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| Abbas Lisani |
Abbas Lisani, a prominent minority rights activist from the Turkish community of Azerbaijan in Iran, refused to give his court testimony in Farsi (Persian) as a protest against its hegemony as the sole language of education, administration, law, and the judiciary in Iran’s multiethnic and multilingual society.
Lisani, 50, was arrested in Tabriz on January 15, 2019, while attending the funeral of fellow activist Hassan Damirchi. On Sunday, March 10, he was taken to the Prosecution Office of Ardabil Province on charges of "spreading propaganda against the state" and "forming an illegal group."
According to reports from human rights groups, Lisani objected to wearing a jail uniform during his court appearance, deeming it a violation of his human dignity. He was brought to court shackled by his hands and feet.
At Ardabil's Public Prosecutor and Revolutionary Court, Lisani refused to speak Farsi and submitted his defense statement in Turkish, asserting that it was his legal and constitutional right to use his mother tongue in court as part of his right to a fair trial.
Lisani, an Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience, has been targeted by Iranian authorities for over a decade due to his peaceful advocacy on behalf of Azerbaijani Turks in Iran. His activism has included participation in gatherings at Babak Fort and on International Mother Language Day, as well as the publication of a calendar in the Azerbaijani Turkish language.
In recent years, Turkish minority rights activists in Azerbaijan have increasingly demanded the right to use their native language in courtrooms during trials, seeking to turn their persecution into an opportunity to challenge the monolingual dominance of Persian, which remains the only language used in education and public institutions throughout the country.