News

(17 December 2010) Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi announced a sit-in in front of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva today to demand the release of her embattled colleague in Iran, Nasrin Sotoudeh. The sit-in will start on 20 December.
Sotoudeh, 47, is a prominent human rights lawyer who has been held in solitary confinement for the past 103 days and is reportedly on hunger strike. She has been bravely outspoken in defense of her clients, particularly since the disputed June 2009 presidential election.
Ebadi was joined in her announcement by Iranian women’s rights activists recently forced into exile, including: Khadijeh Moghaddam, Mansoureh Shojaee, Parvin Ardalan, Asieh Amini, Shadi Sadr, and Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh.
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran expressed its support and solidarity and called on the Iranian Judiciary to immediately release Sotoudeh. The Campaign also strongly urged the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, to immediately engage Iranian officials and demand the immediate release of Sotoudeh.
“Sotoudeh’s condition is deteriorating with each passing day and her interrogators, ignoring her well-being, continue to violate the law. Since the Judiciary has unfortunately lost its independence and become a tool of intelligence and security agents, disregard for Sotoudeh’s health led to her transfer to the hospital,” Ebadi said in an inte... >>>