Name: Nasrin Sotoudeh
Country: Iran
In the middle of a war, Nasrin Sotoudeh, one of the most prominent human rights lawyers in Iran, was detained March 31 by authorities of the Islamic Republic. The reason for her arrest and the charges leveled against her remain unknown.
This occurred only a few days after she gave an interview with a foreign media outlet commenting on the conflict, criticizing the Iranian regime’s policies and the brutal crackdown on peaceful protests that began in January. Iranian authorities remain committed to stifling dissent against the regime by arresting and executing activists for protesting and communicating with foreign media – actions meant to deter ongoing protests by instilling fear.
Since her arrest, she has had only one brief phone call with her family. The location of her detention wasn’t disclosed – only that she was being held by Ministry of Intelligence agents.
Sotoudeh is best known for her defense of activists and politicians who oppose the regime, and advocating for the rights of women and girls, including women who have been prosecuted for refusing to wear a headscarf. For her work defending activists, she has been the recipient of multiple international awards, including 2012 Sakharov Prize of the European Parliament and the 2020 Right Livelihood award.
While she has been an activist for many years, Sotoudeh gained international prominence during the 2009 presidential elections in Iran, when she co-founded the Coalition of Women’s Rights movement to bring attention to the struggles women face in the country. She also represented the Iranian opposition activists and politicians that were detained in the aftermath of the disputed elections. Because of these actions, she has been arrested and imprisoned multiple times by the Iranian regime. Bogus charges brought against her have included “spreading propaganda, conspiring to harm state security, and disparaging the supreme leader”.
After being detained and tried multiple times for her advocacy, Sotoudeh was imprisoned and sentenced in 2011. She was given 11 years in the notorious Evin Prison, eventually reduced to six, for charges including activities that “harm national security” and “spreading anti-regime propaganda”. Additionally, she was barred from continuing to practice law and from leaving the country for 20 years. While incarcerated, Sotoudeh risked her health on three separate hunger strikes to protest her detention as a political prisoner and treatment inside the prison.
In March 2019, only a few years after being released, she was again arrested and sentenced to 38 years in prison, later reduced to 10, as well as 148 lashes for false charges of inciting corruption and prostitution. She conducted another hunger strike in 2020, publishing a letter demanding the release of all political prisoners in Iran. Because of a heart problem, Sotoudeh was released in 2021 and placed on medical furlough, which has been extended multiple times.
Despite continued hardship and the Iranian regime’s attempts to silence her, however, Sotoudeh remains a powerful voice for the people of Iran.
