Saleh Nikbakht

Saleh Nikbakht (Persian: محمدصالح نیکبخت) is an Iranian lawyer and academic. He is the spokesman for the Society of Political Prisoners in Iran.^[1]

Mohammad Saleh Nikbakht
محمد صالح نیکبخت
Born	Saqqez, Kurdistan province, Iran
Occupation	Lawyer

Activities

Nikbakht is from Saqqez and studied law and holds a doctoral degree from Tehran University.

Nikbakht was involved in controversial cases including Hashem Aghajari,^[2] Abbas Abdi, Emad Baghi and 2009 presidential election detainees. Nikbakht is representing former deputy foreign minister Mohsen Aminzadeh, ex-government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, former deputy economy minister Mohsen Safai-Farahani and former vice-president Mohammad Ali Abtahi.^[3]

Nikbakht is the lawyer for the family of Mahsa Amini, whose death in 2022 triggered widespread protests throughout Iran.^[4] In August 2023, he was subsequently charged with "propaganda against the state" by the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran; his lawyer has alleged these charges stemmed from his interviews with domestic and foreign media outlets.^[5]

Conviction

In October 2023, Saleh Nikbakht was called to court on the charge of propagandizing against the Islamic Republic of Iran during an interview with Persian-language TV channels outside Iran about the case of Mahsa Amini, and was finally sentenced to one year in prison and two years of being banned from using cyberspace.^[6] In this regard, his lawyer stated that there is no evidence of propaganda against the regime in Nikbakht's interviews.^[7][8]

European Parliament

Nikbakht represented Mahsa Amini, who was given the 2023 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought posthumously at a ceremony in Strasbourg by The European Parliament. Nikbakht also read the message of Mehsa Amini's mother at the ceremony.^{[9][10][11][12]}

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