March 8th of this year: Nasrin Sotoudeh's 1,000th day in prison
This year, March 8, International Women's Day, coincides with the 1,000th day of imprisonment of imprisoned human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh. On this occasion, various programs have been prepared by Syrian human rights organizations and associations.
In addition to her legal work for women, Nasrin Sotoudeh is accused in the latest case filed against her of defending two of the “Girls of Revolution Street”; girls who removed their headscarves in the street in protest against the mandatory hijab law and were arrested for doing so. This makes the coincidence of Nasrin Sotoudeh’s 1,000-day imprisonment with International Women’s Day all the more meaningful.
On this occasion, the International Human Rights Society in Germany (IGFM) has issued a statement calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Nasrin Sotoudeh.
Martin Lesnentin, a spokesperson for the human rights organization, said: “March 8, 2021, is a sad day for human rights. Every day that Nasrin Sotoudeh is kept in prison, the Iranian government becomes more guilty before its own people.”
Lünsenstein referred to the numerous cases of human rights activists that Ms. Sotoudeh has represented, describing her as someone who “has always stood by the victims of repression by the establishment.” According to the German human rights activist, Nasrin Sotoudeh “defended women who wanted to make their own decisions about their lives and children who were sentenced to death.”
In 2009, when she was representing Arash Rahmanipour and Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani, Nasrin Sotoudeh said in an interview with Deutsche Welle Persian: "When I cannot do anything for my clients, I prefer to be executed with them."
Arash Rahmanipour and Mohammad Reza Alizamani were executed for organizing unrest after the 2009 elections, even though both had been arrested two months before the elections. Rahmanipour was 17 years old at the time of the alleged crimes.
Programs for Nasrin Sotoudeh's 1,000th day of imprisonment
Amnesty International USA and Canada, along with the Global Justice Center and the Feminist Majority Foundation, have organized a virtual event on March 8th, the 1,000th day of Nasrin Sotoudeh's imprisonment.
The program will feature Nasrin Sotoudeh's husband Reza Khandan and filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who is under house arrest in Iran. Also speaking will be director Jeff Kaufman and Marcia Ross, producer of the documentary "Nasrin."
The human rights organization Front Line Defenders also organized a virtual roundtable discussion on March 9th, in which Reza Khandan, Nasrin Sotoudeh's husband, Mahdieh Golroo, women's rights activist, Rezvaneh Mohammadi, LGBT rights activist, and Roja Fazali, professor of Middle East Studies at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, will participate.
In this virtual program, the documentary "Nasreen" will be screened with the presence of its creators.
Prison behind prison
Nasrin Sotoudeh has been sentenced to 33 years in prison and 148 lashes on political charges such as “acting against national security” and “propaganda against the system.” Twelve years of this sentence are enforceable, and the human rights activist has been serving this sentence in prison since June 2018.
He was arrested in 2010 and sentenced in the first instance court to 11 years in prison, a 20-year ban on practicing law, and a 20-year ban on leaving the country, but was released in 2013.
Ms. Sotoudeh was last arrested on June 13, 2018. She has gone on hunger strike several times during her detention. Nasrin Sotoudeh is currently imprisoned in Qarchak Prison in Varamin.
Her husband, Reza Khandan, says that despite the human rights situation in Iran worsening day by day, he hopes that his wife will be released before the end of the government's term due to the many protests against the imprisonment of human rights activists, especially Nasrin Sotoudeh.
Mr. Khandan told DW: "In fact, the judicial system is trying to prevent the pressure from increasing by granting occasional leave. For this reason, I am sure that the Iranian government's security and judicial systems will not be able to keep Nasrin in prison if the pressure from public opinion and international institutions increases and they will be forced to release her in the future."
Nasrin Sotoudeh has received several international awards for her human rights work, including the Sakharov Prize for Human Rights from the European Parliament in 2012, the Special Human Rights Prize of the German Association of Judges in 2020, and the Alternative Nobel Prize in the same year.
Source: DW
