In a blatant attempt to stifle the voices of legal advocates, two defense counsels, Elham Zera’atpisheh and Asetareh Ansari, were arrested by the regime’s security forces in Shiraz. To date, no information has been disclosed regarding their whereabouts or the specific grounds for their detention.
Elham Zera’atpisheh
On May 4, 2026, security forces intercepted and arrested Elham Zera’atpisheh, a female attorney, in front of the Shiraz Implementation of Verdicts’ Courthouse. She was subsequently transported to an undisclosed location.
This attorney had previously been targeted and detained by security forces during the 2022 nationwide protests.
Asetareh Ansari
On Sunday, May 3, 2026, security forces raided the home of attorney Asetareh Ansari, taking her into custody and transferring her to an unknown facility. Since her arrest, no information has been released regarding the charges leveled against this Shiraz-based lawyer.
Despite persistent efforts by the Ansari family to ascertain her location and physical well-being, their inquiries have remained unanswered.
Asetareh Ansari has an extensive history of representing clients in high-profile political and “security” cases. Like her colleague, she had also been arrested during the 2022 nationwide uprising.
The Regime’s Paranoia: The Case of the “Riot Leader”
Shadi Mousavi-Rak’ati, an 18-year-old woman from Izeh in Khuzestan Province, remains in a state of legal limbo in Ahvaz’s Sepidar Prison, more than four months after her initial arrest.
State-run media outlets have begun broadcasting forced confessions from the teenager, a calculated move designed to manufacture legitimacy for the impending issuance of a severe sentence. In a video aired in recent weeks, state apparatuses framed her as a “leader of the Izeh riots.”
These so-called confessions were extracted from Mousavi-Rakati under intense psychological pressure and torture within security detention centers.
The broadcasting of forced confessions is a recurring scenario orchestrated by the regime’s judiciary to justify long-term imprisonment and facilitate capital charges, such as “Corruption on Earth” (Mofsed-e-filarz), against young protesters. Terrified more than ever by the sound of dissent, the regime is deploying every method of suppression to prevent the eruption of an uprising even greater than that of January 2026.
