New Charges Against Nasrin Sotoudeh and Possibility of Heavy Sentence
The Revolutionary Court has leveled a lengthy list of charges against Nasrin Sotoudeh, which according to Islamic Penal Law could result in the harshest punishment. Amnesty International has stated that 34 years of imprisonment and 148 lashes await Nasrin Sotoudeh.
Reza Khandan, husband of Nasrin Sotoudeh and a lawyer for the human rights campaign in Iran, has informed the campaign that a verdict has been issued in his wife’s second case, in which she faces seven charges, but it has not yet been served to Nasrin Sotoudeh in Evin Prison.
According to the human rights campaign, Nasrin Sotoudeh did not participate in the trial in protest of the unlawful nature of the court proceedings and did not appoint a lawyer for herself in protest of the law requiring lawyers to be approved by the judiciary.
Nasrin Sotoudeh’s husband told the human rights campaign that only one trial session was held “in absentia” for the seven charges on December 30 in Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court presided over by Judge Moghiseh.
A Chain of Various Charges Against Nasrin Sotoudeh
According to the same report, Ms. Sotoudeh is accused in the new case of “assembly and conspiracy against national security,” “propaganda activity against the system,” “effective membership in an illegal and anti-security group, the Center for Human Rights Defenders, Legam, and the National Peace Council,” “encouraging people toward corruption and indecency and providing the means for it,” “appearing without proper religious hijab in the investigation office,” “disruption of public order and peace,” and “spreading lies with the intent to disturb public opinion.”
This volume of charges can result in a heavy sentence. According to Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Law, when crimes exceed three counts, “only the harshest punishment is enforceable, and if the harshest punishment is reduced due to legal reasons, replaced, or becomes unenforceable, the next harshest punishment shall be enforced.”
This is not the full extent of the case. The human rights campaign has written that in the indictment of Nasrin Sotoudeh issued on September 10, 2018, by Amin Naseri, Deputy General and Revolutionary Prosecutor, and a copy of which is in the possession of the campaign, “Nasrin Sotoudeh’s cooperation with Shirin Ebadi in holding a referendum, support for house churches, her support for Gonabadi dervishes, receiving the Sakharov Prize, interviews with media about the girls of Revolution Street for whom she was the lawyer of three of them, and removing her headscarf during in-person and video visits to the prison are mentioned as criminal acts.”
34 Years in Prison and 148 Lashes
The Iran Human Rights Campaign has written that in part of the indictment of Ms. Sotoudeh it states: “The defendant was a prominent, active, and organizational element of the illegal groups, the Center for Human Rights Defenders, Legam, and the National Peace Council. She, along with Shirin Ebadi and others, took the initiative to issue a statement for holding a referendum…” “The defendant, in return for her anti-system and subversive actions, under the guise of the Sakharov Prize worth 50,000 euros, received funds to continue her subversive and anti-security activities.”
The indictment contains a lengthy list of various charges against this lawyer, including that she supported “house churches” and “made false statements regarding women arrested for removing their hijab, regarding the manner of their arrest, and by leveling accusations against police officers regarding beating women with chemical agents and assault, and even breaking their limbs, and encouraging people toward corruption and indecency and providing the means for it through interviews with anti-system media and support for removing the hijab, producing and publishing clips in cyberspace regarding the topic of hijab and protesting its mandatory nature, standing next to an electrical post on Revolution Street and placing flowers on it in support of girls removing their hijab, producing and distributing pixels with the slogan ‘I protest mandatory hijab,’ removing her hijab in three instances during in-person and video visits in the public visiting area for inmates’ families to meet with prisoners in Evin Prison.”
Another charge against Ms. Sotoudeh is that she “actively and effectively stood alongside members of the Gonabadi dervish faction in front of Evin Prison in December 2017 and January 2018.”
Amnesty International released a statement on Monday, March 4, urging human rights activists to write a letter to Ebrahim Raisi, the next head of the judiciary, and demand the immediate release of Nasrin Sotoudeh. Amnesty International has reported the possibility of issuing a sentence of 34 years in prison and 148 lashes for Nasrin Sotoudeh.
Source: DW
