Nasrin Sotoudeh's husband "has been threatened with arrest"

Reza Khandan, the husband of Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer and human rights activist who is currently in prison, says that someone called him and said that if he did not go to the Ministry of Intelligence, he would be arrested.

Mr. Khandan wrote on his Facebook page on September 12, "Someone called my cell phone today and said he was calling from the Ministry of Intelligence. He said I should go there tomorrow."

Ms. Sotoudeh's husband added, "Since no person or institution other than the judicial authority has the right to prosecute individuals, even in writing and with reasons and charges, I reminded him of the legal limits. Unfortunately, in response to my protest, he said, 'Then you will be arrested.'"

There has been no report or news about Mr. Khandan's possible arrest yet. The Ministry of Intelligence or other Iranian judicial and security institutions have not yet responded to these allegations.

However, this is not the first time that Mr. Khandan has been the target of a "threat" or "indirect threat"; for example, in October 2011, he said that he had been "indirectly summoned to Branch 4 of the Evin Prosecutor's Office through his guarantor."

In January 2010, after he filed a complaint against his wife for mistreatment, he was summoned to court and charged with "spreading lies."

During the anniversary of Sattar Beheshti's death, it was also reported that Khandan, Sotoudeh, and a number of other members of parliament were detained for several hours.

Reza Khandan was also arrested in June of this year. At that time, he and a number of civil society activists had gathered in front of Evin Prison to protest the arrest of Nasrin Sotoudeh.

Ms. Sotoudeh, a lawyer and jurist, was arrested on June 13. Mr. Khandan had previously written on his Facebook that his wife “was sentenced to five years in prison in a case that was sentenced in absentia on October 4, 2016.”

Ms. Sotoudeh's charges include "collusion, gathering, and propaganda against the regime."

Mr. Khandan also told Radio Farda that the Revolutionary Court, citing Article 510 of the Islamic Penal Code, which deals with "aiding spies," sentenced Ms. Sotoudeh in absentia, while the Evin Prosecutor's Office had not brought such charges against Nasrin Sotoudeh, and the verdict does not match the indictment.

At the beginning of September, it was reported that Nasrin Sotoudeh had gone on a hunger strike to protest her arrest.

Ms. Sotoudeh's arrest has been met with widespread reactions from international human rights organizations, members of the European Parliament, US government officials, and other institutions.

The accusations leveled against Ms. Sotoudeh by the Islamic Republic's judicial and security apparatus come at a time when Human Rights Watch says she is "a human rights hero who should be applauded for her tireless defense of citizens' rights, not behind bars."

Nasrin Sotoudeh represented some of the relatives and detainees of the 2009 protests, civil and social activists, political prisoners, and women protesting against the compulsory hijab. She is a member of the Center for Human Rights Defenders, a supporter of the One Million Signatures Campaign to Change Discriminatory Laws Against Women, and a supporter of the Child Labor Protection Campaign. Ms. Sotoudeh has been repeatedly targeted by legal threats and has been arrested and imprisoned several times.

Source: Radio Farda