We, together with Kennedy Human Rights, PEN America, the Feminist Majority Foundation, Ms. Magazine, and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, call for the immediate release of renowned Iranian human rights attorney and women’s rights advocate, Nasrin Sotoudeh.
Last night, Iranian authorities arrested Nasrin in her home, confiscated her electronic devices, and took her to an unknown location. Amid the current war and a communication shutdown, she is under extreme vulnerability to life-threatening risks from the regime’s increasing persecution of activists as well as to airstrikes by the U.S. and Israel. Moreover, prison facilities have deteriorated under wartime conditions.
A mother of two, Nasrin has been repeatedly arrested over the past two decades for her activism and has spent more than six years in prison. She was ultimately released on medical leave after suffering a severe heart condition and inhumane treatment in prison.
Known as the “Mandela of Iran,” Nasrin has represented women’s rights defenders, children on death row, journalists, religious and ethnic minorities, lawyers, and other political prisoners in Iran. In 2020, she won the Right Livelihood Award “for her fearless activism, at great personal risk, to promote political freedoms and human rights in Iran.” She previously won PEN America’s 2011 Freedom to Write Award and the European Parliament’s 2012 Sakharov Prize. For her leading human rights work and her vocal advocacy for the rights of all Iranians, she has long been targeted by the regime.
In December 2024, her husband, fellow human rights activist Reza Khandan, was arrested for supporting women’s rights and Nasrin’s work, and is currently being held in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.
Nasrin Sotoudeh’s re-arrest is emblematic of the Iranian regime’s assault on the fundamental rights and freedoms that are enshrined under its own legal system.
Now, the world is watching.
We stand with Nasrin and all those involved in the nonviolent struggle for a free and democratic Iran.
