Human rights lawyer and free speech defender Nasrin Sotoudeh has now been held for more than 100 days. She began her third hunger strike last week and is resolved to continue it until the end.
Shirin Ebadi, Nobel peace laureate and president of the Tehran-based Centre for Human Rights Defenders, Jean-François Julliard, secretary-general of Reporters Without Borders, and François Cantier, president of Lawyers Without Borders France, appeal for the release of this lawyer who has defended many prisoners of conscience in the Iranian courts with determination.
Reporters Without Borders is very concerned that the Islamic Republic of Iran is now targeting lawyers, who are needed by the many prisoners of conscience. More and more journalists and bloggers are being prosecuted while the conditions in which they are held keep on getting worse.
A race against death for Nasrin Sotoudeh
Nasrin Sotoudeh is guilty three times over in the mullah-led regime’s eyes. Guilty of being a woman of conviction. Guilty of being a human rights lawyer. And guilty of daring to speak out against the regime.
Courageous and uncompromising, she has always been ready to defend intellectuals, journalists, bloggers, women’s rights activists and those who represent ethnic or religious minorities. She took up the cause of all those who were the victims of repression for protesting after the June 2009 election. One of the pillars of the Centre for Human Rights Defenders,…
