Nasrin Sotoudeh’s Open Letter from Prison: Why I Did Not Appear in Court

Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer and human rights activist who was detained on June 14 and is being held in Evin Prison, has explained her reasons for not appearing in court through an open letter.

Ms. Sotoudeh stated in this letter, published on Wednesday, August 22, that the illegal establishment of the Branch 33 Prosecution Office inside Evin Prison is one of the reasons, which she believes indicates the control of security agencies over this prosecution office.

Nasrin Sotoudeh has cited the refusal by the case prosecutor to recognize her right to choose a lawyer as another reason that persuades her not to appear in her court session.

Simultaneously, sixty members of the European Parliament have issued an open letter to Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s President, urging him to use all his powers for the unconditional release of Nasrin Sotoudeh.

Previously, Reza Khandan, Ms. Sotoudeh’s husband, had announced that Ms. Sotoudeh does not accept the 650 million toman bail issued for her and will remain in temporary detention in the general ward of Evin Prison.

Last week, Payam Derafshan, Nasrin Sotoudeh’s lawyer, announced that this lawyer was tried in absentia by Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court and was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of espionage.

Payam Derafshan told the IRNA news agency that he and Ms. Sotoudeh’s other lawyers filed an appeal against this sentence, according to which Ms. Sotoudeh should be released on bail pending the issuance of the final verdict.

According to Mr. Derafshan, the court rejected this proposal, while the prosecution’s indictment listed Ms. Sotoudeh’s charges as anti-system propaganda and disrespect to the leadership, but Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court issued a sentence for her on espionage charges.

Ms. Sotoudeh’s defense lawyer said: “When we raised this issue, the enforcement judge of Evin Prosecution Office also objected through a letter to the court president and announced that the verdict does not match the indictment, but the judge of the case responded that from the court’s perspective, Nasrin Sotoudeh’s charge is espionage.”

At the same time, Ms. Sotoudeh was summoned to the Branch Seven Investigation Section of Evin Prosecution Office, and the prosecutor’s complaint from Kashan Prosecution Office was explained to her.

For these charges as well, a 650 million toman bail was issued.

According to Payam Derafshan, another case has also been filed against Ms. Sotoudeh in Branch Two of Evin Prosecution Office regarding the campaign for gradual abolition of execution, and Ms. Sotoudeh was summoned and detained based on that.

He said: “This is while, firstly, the Legam campaign was supposed to be launched by Narges Mohammadi, who was arrested before launching it, and secondly, there is nowhere in law that requesting the gradual abolition of the death penalty is a crime.”

Following Nasrin Sotoudeh’s detention in June this year, a U.S. State Department spokesperson expressed concern about the detention of this lawyer and human rights defender.

Heather Nauert said the United States “praises Ms. Sotoudeh’s courage and her defense of the victims of the regime’s continued oppression.”

She said: “We call on Iranian authorities to immediately release Ms. Sotoudeh and hundreds of other individuals who have been imprisoned merely for expressing their views and their aspirations for a better life.”

Ms. Sotoudeh has defended ideological defendants, arrested protesters, religious minorities, and women protesting compulsory hijab, and is among lawyers who have called for the abolition of death sentences from Iran’s judicial verdicts.

Ms. Sotoudeh was sentenced in September 2010 to 11 years in prison, 20 years of disbarment, and 20 years of travel ban, which was reduced in the appeals court to 6 years in prison and 10 years of disbarment.

She was ultimately released after serving three years in prison and managed to change her disbarment sentence.

Source: Voice of America