UN: Release Nasrin Sotoudeh and other political prisoners due to the coronavirus crisis
The United Nations on Tuesday, October 5, called on Iran to immediately release human rights lawyer and activist Nasrin Sotoudeh and other political prisoners.
A statement issued for this purpose states that these individuals have been discriminated against amid the COVID-19 outbreak and, unlike other prisoners, their release has been delayed.
In this regard, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet expressed the organization's deep concern over the worsening situation of human rights activists, lawyers, and political prisoners in Iran as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
Eight months ago, Iran temporarily released about 120,000 prisoners across the country to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in prisons, but those accused of crimes against national security who have prison sentences of more than five years were exempted from this.
Ms. Bachelet said that these defendants were at greater risk of contracting the coronavirus and expressed regret for this discrimination.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressing concern about the systematic and persistent targeting of dissidents in Iran, called for providing medical facilities for Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh at her home.
Ms. Sotoudeh, who was sentenced to 33 years in prison and 148 lashes on political charges and had been on a hunger strike in prison since August 10 to protest the conditions of political prisoners, broke her hunger strike on October 25 after her physical condition worsened.
Hundreds of writers and cultural figures around the world have signed an open letter from the PEN Association of America addressed to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, calling for the release of Nasrin Sotoudeh and other political prisoners in Iran.
This open letter, signed by renowned authors such as Margaret Atwood, Ariel Dorfman, and Paul Aster, calls on the authorities of the Islamic Republic to "immediately and unconditionally" release Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer and human rights activist.
A number of women activists outside Iran also wrote an open letter expressing concern about Nasrin Sotoudeh's physical condition and calling on the Islamic Republic's authorities to end her imprisonment and that of other political prisoners.
Source: Radio Farda
