Nasrin Sotoudeh’s Husband “Threatened with Arrest”
Reza Khandan, husband of Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer and human rights activist who is currently imprisoned, says someone called him and said if he does not go to the Ministry of Intelligence, he will be arrested.
Mr. Khandan wrote on his Facebook page on September 3rd: “Someone called me today on my mobile and said that they are calling from the Ministry of Intelligence. He said that I must go there tomorrow”.
Ms. Sotoudeh’s husband added: “Since no person or institution other than the judicial authorities, and that too in writing and with mention of reasons and charges, has the right to pursue individuals; I reminded them of legal boundaries. Unfortunately, in response to my objection, he said: ‘Then you will be arrested'”.
No report or news has yet been published regarding the possible arrest of Mr. Khandan. The Ministry of Intelligence or other judicial and security authorities in Iran have not yet responded to these claims.
However, this is not the first time Mr. Khandan has been the target of “threats” or “indirect threats”; for example, in October 2011, he said he was “indirectly and through his guarantor summoned to Branch 4 of the Evin Prosecutor’s Office”.
In December 2010, after filing a complaint due to mistreatment of his wife, he was summoned to court and accused of “spreading falsehoods”.
During the commemoration ceremony of Sattar Beheshti’s death, it was also reported that Khandan, Sotoudeh and several other activists were detained for a few hours.
In June of the current year, Reza Khandan was also arrested. At that time, he and a number of civil activists gathered in front of Evin Prison in protest of Nasrin Sotoudeh’s arrest.
Ms. Sotoudeh, a lawyer and human rights advocate, was arrested on June 23rd. Mr. Khandan had previously written on his Facebook that his wife “was sentenced to five years in prison in a case whose verdict was issued in absentia on October 4, 2016”.
Ms. Sotoudeh’s charges were described as “collusion, gathering and propaganda against the system”.
Mr. Khandan also told Radio Farda that the Revolutionary Court, citing Article 510 of the Islamic Penal Code regarding “aiding spies”, issued an in absentia verdict against Ms. Sotoudeh; whereas the Evin Prosecutor’s Office had not charged Nasrin Sotoudeh with such an accusation and the verdict does not conform to the indictment.
At the beginning of September, it was reported that Nasrin Sotoudeh had gone on a hunger strike in protest of her arrest.
Ms. Sotoudeh’s arrest has been met with widespread reactions from international human rights organizations, European Parliament representatives, U.S. government officials and other bodies.
The charges brought against Ms. Sotoudeh by the judicial and security apparatus of the Islamic Republic come at a time when Human Rights Watch says she “is a human rights champion who should be encouraged for her tireless defense of citizens’ rights, not imprisoned behind bars”.
Nasrin Sotoudeh represented some relatives and detainees of the 2009 protests, civil and social activists, political prisoners and women protesting mandatory hijab. She is a member of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, a supporter of the One Million Signatures campaign to change discriminatory laws against women and a campaign supporting working children. Ms. Sotoudeh has repeatedly been the target of legal threats and has been arrested and imprisoned several times.
Source: Radio Farda
