The Observatory petitions UN body over the ongoing detention of human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh

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Paris-Geneva, September 21, 2018 - The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, apartnership of FIDH and the OMCT, has petitioned the United Nations WorkingGroup on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) to seek the release of Iranian human rightslawyer Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh.

Ms. NasrinSotoudeh, a prominent human rights lawyer and 2012 laureate of the EuropeanParliament’s Sakharov Prize, was arrested on June 13, 2018 at her home inTehran. She was subsequently taken to Tehran’s Evin prison to serve a five-yearprison sentence that was handed down against her in absentia in 2016 but had not been communicated to Ms.Sotoudeh until her arrest, in blatant contravention ofnational and international fair trial standards.

“We reiterateour strong condemnation of the ongoing detention of Nasrin Sotoudeh, which isclearly aimed at stopping her from conducting her human rights work. We ask theUN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to declare the deprivation of libertyof Nasrin Sotoudeh ‘arbitrary’ and to urge the Iranian authorities toimmediately and unconditionally release her”,said Dimitris Christopoulos, FIDH President.

“Like many other fellow human rightslawyers who were recently arrested or summoned to court, Ms. Sotoudeh’sdetention is a direct retaliation for defending political prisoners andtaking up human rights cases. Weurge the international community to condemn vehemently the increasing assaultagainst human rights lawyers in Iran and to at last hold Iranian authoritiesaccountable for the worsening human rights situation in the country”,added Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General.

OnAugust 25, 2018, Ms. Sotoudeh started a hunger strike to protest against herdetention on trumped-up charges and the judicial harassment faced by her familyand friends, including her husband, Mr. RezaKhandan, who is also detained after having been arrested on September 4,2018. On September 16, 2018, Ms. Sotoudeh was informed that she would be deniedher family visitation rights if she and her female visitors - including herdaughter - did not wear a full hijab. Ms Sotoudeh has refused the condition andwas denied the right to see her daughter on September 17, 2018.

The Observatory urgesthe Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Ms. Sotoudehand to cease all acts of harassment and other abuses against her and all humanrights defenders in Iran, in accordance with the provisions of the UnitedNations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and with international humanrights standards and international instruments to which Iran is a State party.