Iran Govt Sentences Human Rights Lawyer To 38 Yrs In Prison & 148 Lashes

In a judgement which seems harder than any earlier crackdown on dissent that the Iranian govt is known of, Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been sentenced to three decades in prison and 148 lashes, according to her family. Husband of Nasrin Sotoudeh, Reza Khandan, posted on Facebook about the punishment “38 years of prison with 148 lashes are the result of 2 open cases. 5 years of prison for the first case and 33 years of prison with 148 lashes, for the second case.”

The Tehran Court judge, however, said the punishment is of 7 years – five years for assembling against national security and two years for insulting the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Sotoudeh, an internationally acclaimed lawyer, has represented activists who were prosecuted for their protest against mandatory scarf. She has defended opposition activists and politicians who were arrested for protesting against the fraud in 2009 Iranian presidential election.

In 2010, Sotoudeh was arrested on charges of spreading propaganda against the state and for conspiring to harm state security. Though she denied the charges, she was imprisoned for 11 years and was barred from practising law for 20 years. Later on, the imprisonment was reduced to six years and her ban from practising law to 10 years.
She was again arrested in June, 2018 and sentenced to imprisonment for 38 years in March, 2019.

US govt has condemned the arrest and said, “We are outraged to hear reports that the Iranian regime sentenced Sotoudeh to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes. This sentence is beyond barbaric.” Human rights organisation Amnesty International has called the punishment ‘outrageous injustice’. “Nasrin Sotoudeh has dedicated her life to defending women’s rights and speaking out against the death penalty – it is utterly outrageous that Iran’s authorities are punishing her for her human rights work,” Philip Luther of Amnesty International said.

Amnesty demanded that Nasrin Sotoudeh must be released immediately and unconditionally and the sentence should be quashed without delay.

Also read: Iran: Woman Sentenced To Two Years In Prison For Removing Headscarf In Public