Post by pieter on Nov 25, 2012 7:51:23 GMT -7
Call for Release of Hunger-striking Attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh in Iran
Nasrin Sotoudeh, a mother of two young children, has been in Evin Prison since her arrest on September 4, 2010. She was convicted by a Revolutionary Court of "acting against national security" and "propaganda against the system." She was originally sentenced to 11 years in prison in January 2011 and a 20-year ban on her professional activities, but the sentence was reduced to six years and a 10-year ban on appeal. Nasrin Sotoudeh was the lawyer for Iran's Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi who has spoken out forcefully on her behalf.
Call or write to the Iranian embassy in Washington D.C.
This is what you can say:
- I am calling you to talk about Nasrin Sotoudeh, the Iranian lawyer. She is serving a six year prison sentence in Teheran’s Evin prison for her human rights work.
- I call on the Iranian authorities to respect Nasrin Sotoudeh’s human rights. That means, first of all, that she should be released immediately and unconditionally. After all, she is imprisoned solely for the peaceful exercise of her human rights to freedom of expression and association.
- I am concerned about the fact that she has been denied regular face-to-face visits with her
- 13-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son.
- She has been on a hunger strike since 17th of October. This is to protest against the fact that she can’t have face-to-face contact with her husband and children, and against the pressure that has been put on her family.
- In the meantime, I urge the authorities to ensure that Nasrin Sotoudeh can receive regular visits from her family.
Nasrin Sotoudeh
Nasrin Sotoudeh (Persian: نسرین ستوده, also spelled Sotoodeh) is a human rights lawyer in Iran. She has represented imprisoned Iranian opposition activists and politicians following the disputed June 2009 Iranian presidential elections as well as prisoners sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were minors. Her clients have included journalist Isa Saharkhiz, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, and Heshmat Tabarzadi, the head of the banned opposition group Democratic Front of Iran.
Isa Saharkhiz
Shirin Ebadi
Heshmat Tabarzadi
Sotoudeh was arrested in September 2010 on charges of spreading propaganda and conspiring to harm state security and was imprisoned in solitary confinement in Evin Prison. In January 2011, Iranian authorities sentenced Sotoudeh to 11 years in prison, in addition to barring her from practicing law and from leaving the country for 20 years. An appeals court later reduced Sotoudeh's prison sentence to six years, and her ban from working as a lawyer to ten years.
Family and education
Nasrin Sotoudeh was born in 1963 in a "religious, middle class" Iranian family. She had hoped to study philosophy in college and ranked 53rd in the Iranian national university entrance exam but lacked high enough marks to get a place and ended up studying law at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran. After completing her degree in international law from the university, Sotoudeh took and passed the bar exam successfully in 1995 but had to wait another eight years to be given her permit to practice law.
Sotoudeh is married to Reza Khandan. They have two children together. Sotoudeh has emphasized that Reza is "truly a modern man," standing beside her and her work during her struggles.
Work and activity
Sotoudeh started her career at the Iranian Ministry of Housing legal office and after two years joined the legal section of the state-owned Bank Tejarat. During her tenure at the bank she was "heavily involved with preparing the legal case and the legal arguments for many of the cases that Iran presented at The Hague" in its dispute with the United States during "the Algeria court summons there."
Sotoudeh's "first work in the field of women's rights" was a diverse collection of interviews, reports, and articles for the journal Daricheh. The editor-in-chief of the publication rejected the collection which "made Sotoudeh even more determined in her work for women's rights".
In 1995 at the age of 32 she took the Bar (Kanoon Vokala) exam and earned her lawyers credentials, and became one of most active members of the law society. Sotoudeh's work has included defending abused children and mothers and working to protect abused children from returning to their abusive fathers. She believes that many abusers are ill or past victims of mistreatment themselves, and in need of professional care and medication. She hopes that the courts will make better use of child specialists and psychologists in verifying abuse cases to better protect innocent children.
Prior to her arrest, Sotoudeh represented activists and journalists such as Isa Saharkhiz, Heshmat Tabarzadi, Nahid Keshavarz, Parvin Ardalan, Omid Memarian, and Roya Tolouie, as well as child abuse and criminal cases. She worked closely with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and her Defenders of Human Rights Center. Following Sotoudeh's arrest, Ebadi called for her release and expressed concern regarding her health. In the statement, Ebadi said, "Ms. Sotoudeh is one of the last remaining courageous human rights lawyers who has accepted all risks for defending the victims of human rights violations in Iran". Former Czech President Vaclav Havel and Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi, also called for Sotoudeh's release.
Former Czech President Vaclav Havel called for Sotoudeh's release
Activists and journalists defended by Nasrin Sotoudeh
Women’s Rights Activists, Nahid Keshavarz
Parvin Ardalan, born 1967 in Tehran, is a leading Iranian women's rights activist, writer and journalist. She was awarded the Olof Palme Prize in 2007 for her struggle for equal rights for men and women in Iran.
Omid Memarian (in Persian: امید معماریان) (born 1974~ ) is an Iranian journalist and blogger.
Roya Toloui (born May,22 1966 in Baneh, Kurdistan Province, Iran) is a prominent Kurdish-Iranian journalist, human rights activist and feminist, currently residing in the US.
Arrest
On 28 August 2010, Iranian authorities raided Sotoudeh's office. At the time, Sotoudeh was representing Zahra Bahrami, a Dutch-Iranian dual citizen charged with security offenses; it was unclear whether the raid was related to Bahrami. On 4 September 2010, Iranian authorities arrested Sotoudeh on charges of spreading propaganda and conspiring to harm state security. The Washington Post described the arrest as "highlighting an intensifying crackdown on lawyers who defend influential opposition politicians, activists and journalists."
Amnesty International launched an urgent call for her release, designating her a prisoner of conscience and noting that she was "at risk of torture or other ill-treatment". Sotoudeh, who is imprisoned in Evin Prison, was reportedly held in solitary confinement.
On 25 September 2010, she began a hunger strike to protest being denied visits and phone calls from her family. According to her husband, Sotoudeh ended her hunger strike four weeks later, on 23 October.
On 17 October 2012, she began a hunger strike that still continues today. Here life is in serious danger now!
The Dutch Iranian Zahra Bahrami was defended by Sotoudeh
Sentence
On 9 January 2011, Iranian authorities sentenced Sotoudeh to 11 years in jail for charges that include "activities against national security" and "propaganda against the regime." Additionally, she has been barred from practicing law and from leaving the country for 20 years. In mid-September 2011, an appeals court reduced Nasrin Sotoudeh's prison sentence to six years; her ban from working as a lawyer was reduced to ten years.
In October 2012, Sotoudeh began an indefinite hunger strike in protest of new restrictions placed on her family visits.
International response
Sotoudeh's imprisonment was widely condemned in the international community. In October 2010, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists, the International Federation for Human Rights, the Iranian League for the Defence of Human Rights, the Union Internationale des Avocats and the World Organisation Against Torture joined Amnesty International in a joint statement denouncing Sotoudeh's arrest and calling for her immediate release. The US condemned what it called the "unjust and harsh verdict" against Sotoudeh, who it called "a strong voice for rule of law and justice in Iran". On 20 December 2010, Amnesty International held a day-long protest at the Iranian embassy in London to protest her imprisonment. In January 2011, the Law Society of England and Wales also issued a call for her release.
On 26 October 2012, Sotoudeh was announced as a co-winner of the Sakharov Prize of the European Parliament. She shared the award with Iranian film director Jafar Panahi. European Parliament President Martin Schulz called the pair "a woman and a man who have not been bowed by fear and intimidation and who have decided to put the fate of their country before their own".
European Union High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton stated of the prize, "I am following the case of Nasrin Sotoudeh and other human rights defenders with great concern ... We will continue to campaign for the charges against them to be dropped. We look to Iran to respect the human rights obligations it has signed up to".
European Union High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton following the case of Nasrin Sotoudeh with great concern and wants the the charges against her to be dropped
www.amnestyusa.org/
