Continued Security Pressures on Families of Political Prisoners; First Court Session of Nasrin Sotoudeh’s Daughter Held in Iran

The first court session of Mehraveh Khandan, the 20-year-old daughter of Nasrin Sotoudeh, a jailed lawyer and human rights activist, was held on Monday, November 5 in Iran.

Reza Khandan, the husband of Nasrin Sotoudeh, a jailed human rights lawyer in Iran, spoke with Voice of America about the details of his daughter Mehraveh’s court session, which was related to a tension that occurred in the visiting room of Evin Prison. He stated: The incident that occurred “was very ordinary and could happen anywhere else, but Evin’s prosecution office, which is a security prosecution office, after my wife went on a hunger strike, intended to inflict psychological harm, and for this reason, they came to our house using this case as a pretext and arrested my daughter.”

Khandan said that the charge against Mehraveh in her case is “insulting and assaulting an Evin Prison official,” and the judge requested that the prosecution and the plaintiff submit the CCTV footage of the location of the tension from that day within 24 hours.

Reza Khandan, stating that after seven or eight months have passed, no footage has been presented, added: It is planned that after these images are submitted, the judge will issue a ruling without holding a session.

Nasrin Sotoudeh’s husband, noting that Mostafa Nili and Shadi Halimi are representing his daughter’s case and presented their defense arguments to the court, added: In parallel with this court, two judicial representatives from Evin and Qarchak requested a settlement and withdrawal from continuing the case, which Mehraveh refused because of “unjust accusations made against her and the fact that she has been subjected to harassment and abuse, including the treatment by Evin’s prosecution office that arrested her, as well as the insults this official has committed.”

Khandan reminded that these judicial representatives demanded that Mehraveh, in exchange for dropping the complaint, issue a letter stating that she would not raise any complaint.

Nasrin Sotoudeh’s husband, referring to the fact that during the process of his daughter’s case, his wife is taking actions from inside the prison, added: Since this case was opened, “in protest against Mehraveh’s arrest and the lack of security in the visiting room [of Evin Prison] for children,” my wife has stopped her visits, and now for 10 weeks we have not been able to visit her.

Reza Khandan also described the holding of this court session in a tweet as “continued security pressures” on Nasrin Sotoudeh and the family of this jailed lawyer.

He had previously stated in this regard that “involving family members is not a new matter, and the use of family members as hostages by the Islamic Republic has been common before. However, extending into children’s privacy is the lowest action the system can take against political prisoners and its own citizens.”

Earlier in August, it was reported that Mehraveh Khandan, the daughter of Nasrin Sotoudeh, a jailed lawyer in Iran, was released on bail after her arrest and transfer to Evin’s prosecution office.

The Islamic Republic has repeatedly arrested relatives and family members of civil and human rights activists or opponents of the system, including the arrest of Ali Alinzhad, the brother of Masih Alinzhad, a journalist and program presenter for Voice of America’s tablet program.

The U.S. State Department has repeatedly condemned violent treatment and widespread suppression of protesters, as well as repeated and ongoing violations of the rights of Iranian citizens by the governing regime of that country.

Source: Voice of America