Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 29 /Trend T.Konyayeva/
Massoud Shafee, the lawyer representing the recently freed two U.S. citizens, was arrested, and interrogated in relation to the accusations raised by the two against Tehran after their return to the US, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported.
"Yesterday at 7:00 a.m., five security forces entered my home with my arrest warrant. It was strange to see an arrest warrant issued for me, as arrest warrants are usually issued for murderers or fugitives," Shafiee told the organization a few hours after his release.
On early Tuesday, 27 September, security forces entered Shafee's home and after several hours of searching his home and offices, transferred him to Evin Prison.
Shafee said they entered the home and searched the entire house, including the safe, the closets.
"After searching the home, they took my passport and several other things and brought me to my office, where they confiscated the computer and hard drive, documents, the case files of the two Americans, and several other documents and took me to Evin," he told the Campaign. "Even though they were respectful, this act was wrong in essence."
Regarding his interrogation at Evin that lasted for several hours, Shafee noted that "most of the talk was about the two Americans' case."
"But everything ended well and they returned my documents, including my passport, to me, and I returned home. Whatever the young Americans do, and whatever they say, how is that related to me? I believed that they were innocent, and I did my job," he said.
"But if, upon going home, they say some things, how is that related to me? My arrest did not have any legal justification. I am an Iranian and the entire time I defended the two Americans, I naturally thought about my country's interest to protect the dignity of the [Iranian] Judiciary, and this is how I am treated in return for my honest work. I am so disappointed."
"Now I am concerned that perhaps I have been barred from leaving the country, and it appears that I have," Shafee added.
Speaking at a press conference in New York after landing back in U.S. following their release to Oman on Wednesday, the two US nationals accused the Iranian regime of "brutality", and said they were they were arrested due to political motives.
Iran denied their accusations on Wednesday. "The three US citizens had all the rights of a prisoner and their charges had nothing to do with their nationality," Mehr news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Qashqavi as saying.
Shafee also categorically denied the charges made by his clients. He underlined that the two had never been tortured, and said if they had been tortured or mistreated in prison they could have raised the issue during their hearing sessions.
Shane Bauer, Joshua Fattal and Sarah Shourd were detained in 2009 after crossing an unmarked stretch of the Iran-Iraq border. They were charged by Iran's Revolutionary Court with illegally crossing the border and espionage and sentenced to eight-year prison terms.
Shourd was released in September, 2010 on health grounds after posting 500,000 dollars in bail by Oman, and returned to the United States. Two weeks earlier, Iran's Revolutionary Court agreed to release two U.S. citizens under $500,000 bail for each.