Iranian lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh hospitalized

Since the start of her hunger strike on August 11, famous Iranian lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been denied family visits. On September 19, her husband, Reza Khandan, and their two children were finally able to briefly see her, weakened and emaciated, after she was rushed to Taleghani Hospital in Tehran. The 57-year-old lawyer was hospitalized in the cardiology department. “She continues her hunger strike, explains to World Mr. Khandan, in Tehran. Nasrin suffers from heart and breathing problems, very low blood pressure and obvious weakness. “ The latter fears more than ever for the life of his wife. He says he has no say in the medical protocol or in the hospital.

Read also Iranian lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, human rights activist, on hunger strike

Winner of the 2012 Sakharov Prize, awarded by the European Parliament, Nasrin Sotoudeh has started a hunger strike to protest against the conditions of imprisonment of political prisoners in Iran. They did not benefit from the enlargement measures offered to common law detainees, released due to the Covid-19 epidemic, which has killed more than 24,000 in the country, according to official figures. “Recently, the sentences handed down against political prisoners are very heavy. For a simple post on the Internet, they get ten to fifteen years in prison. Sanitary conditions are also catastrophic in prisons. Nasrin saw no other way out than [la grève de la faim], Mr. Khandan says.

The emblem of independent lawyers

The human rights defender has been behind bars since June 2018. She was sentenced to twelve years in prison for seven counts, including “incitement to debauchery”. Mme Sotoudeh had notably defended an Iranian woman who had removed her veil in public, thus protesting against the obligation imposed on women in Iran to cover their hair. The lawyer had already been arrested in 2010 and sentenced to eleven years in prison, then pardoned in 2013.

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His case is the subject of significant mobilization abroad, especially in France where lawyers and politicians are asking for his release. In Iran too, many lawyers, human rights and political activists have called on him to end his hunger strike. According to lawyer Saeed Dehghan, Nasrin Sotoudeh has become the emblem of independent lawyers in Iran. “She’s not fighting for herself, but for all of us, and that is having an effect. Even lawyers who are not very politicized are mobilizing for their colleague ”, explains Me Dehghan.

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