Nasrin Sotoudeh Arrested to Serve Five-Year Prison Sentence
Reza Khandan, husband of Nasrin Sotoudeh, told Deutsche Welle that a court held a trial in his wife’s absence and issued a five-year prison sentence against her. According to Khandan, this was merely a pretext for imprisoning Nasrin Sotoudeh.
Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer and human rights activist, was arrested at her home before noon on Wednesday, June 23rd, and transferred to Evin Prison.
Reza Khandan told Deutsche Welle that the officers who came to arrest his wife only carried an arrest warrant and did not show him the court ruling that sentenced Sotoudeh to five years in prison.
Reza Khandan also stated that the officers who went to his house to arrest his wife rang the doorbell of an elderly neighbor who has two young daughters, telling her they had come as suitors. She opened the door, allowing the officers to enter the building and access Nasrin Sotoudeh’s apartment.
Mr. Khandan says that four years ago, during Nasrin Sotoudeh’s sit-in protest in front of the Bar Association, she received a summons. Since she had just undergone surgery, she could not go to the prosecutor’s office, so Mr. Khandan went instead and presented medical documents.
One year after this incident, a written summons came for Ms. Sotoudeh and she went to the Revolutionary Court, but they did not allow her to enter the courtroom. According to Mr. Khandan, some lawyers and well-known figures are banned from entering the Revolutionary Court.
After arguing with officers outside the Revolutionary Court about why she was summoned but not allowed to enter, Nasrin Sotoudeh returned home. Now, three years later, she was told that the court convened in her absence and sentenced her to five years in prison.
Reza Khandan believes that the judiciary’s method is to keep cases of civil and political activists on the back burner, so to speak, until these individuals become a nuisance to the government and judiciary, at which point they are imprisoned.
Nasrin Sotoudeh recently gave several interviews and wrote articles in protest against the list determined by the judiciary of lawyers allowed to defend political and security-related defendants.
Ms. Sotoudeh was convicted in 2010 of “propaganda against the system” and sentenced to 11 years in prison. This sentence was later reduced to six years. She was released from prison in 2013 and was allowed to practice law as a lawyer in 2014.
Source: DW
