News

(4 November 2010) The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, should immediately intervene with Iranian authorities to ensure the physical well being of detained human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today.

On Sunday, 31 October, Sotoudeh, one of Iran’s most prominent human rights lawyers went on a dry hunger strike protesting her detention and ill treatment inside Tehran’s Evin prison. Her family reported that her health is quickly deteriorating.

“As High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay has a duty to come to the aid of embattled human rights defenders,” said Hadi Ghaemi, spokesperson for the Campaign. “Her failure to respond to systematic persecution and prosecution of human rights lawyers, including Sotoudeh, would be cause for concern.”

“Sotoudeh is putting her life on the line not only for the rights of people in Iran, but for the very principles the UN was founded to uphold,” he added.