Iran's leading human rights defender 'on her last legs' after authorities signed prisoner’s 'death warrant'

Activist is approaching the 50th day of her hunger strike, Maya Oppenheim reports

No one is more emblematic of the struggle to achieve the freedoms that we still take for granted in the west than Sotoudeh, whose clients include women jailed for taking their hijabs off in street protests last year

Iran’s leading human rights defender is “on her last legs” after authorities signed the prisoner’s “death warrant” by denying her an urgent heart-related procedure, campaigners warned.

Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer who represented women who protested against the forced hijab, is said to currently be in a life-threatening condition as she approaches the 50th day of her hunger strike.

Women’s rights are stringently restricted in Iran and wearing a headscarf is compulsory in public for all women there – with those who do not wear a hijab, or have some of their hair on display while wearing a hijab, facing punishments ranging from fines to imprisonment.

Ms Sotoudeh’s husband Reza Kahndan told The Independent his 57 year old wife was transferred from Evin Prison to Taleghani Hospital’s intensive care unit in the capital of Tehran due to her deteriorating health, difficulties with breathing, and serious heart problems.

Her husband said: “The security authorities have done everything to her with the aim of creating one of the most inhuman conditions in the hospital. To isolate her from the outside world. To prevent any contact so that she can submit to the will of the security guards.

“As relatives of Nasrin Sotoudeh, we neither have access to medical documents nor do we have the opportunity to inquire about the treatment or the medical results and findings. As relatives, we are constantly being verbally abused by the security team and threatened with arrest. The hospital violates all rules and behaviours that govern the relationship between the doctor and patient and is intimidated by the security team. I tried twice to meet the head of the hospital, but to no avail.

“When we tried to communicate with Nasrin, the same security officer pushed her back into the intensive room with her wheelchair and angrily slammed the door behind him. We could then hear the screams of Nasrin, who was previously exhausted and barely able to speak to us.”

Ms Sotoudeh went on hunger strike to protest against the mistreatment of prisoners of conscience detained in Iran who campaigners warn authorities have failed to protect in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

Yonah Diamond, a human rights lawyer who serves on her international legal team, told The Independent: “At the hospital, she was constantly monitored by security forces, rather than receiving adequate medical treatment. Her hospitalisation can only be characterised as continued ‘confinement,’ as her husband put it.

“Her family was left completely in the dark, barred from seeing her or her medical records, or speaking with medical personnel. Worse, the only time they saw her was to witness the security forces physically abuse her while she was in a wheelchair.

“After five days at the hospital, authorities abruptly sent her back to an isolated cell for quarantine in Evin prison without receiving the urgent heart-related procedure she required and was recommended by doctors. They have essentially signed her death warrant.

“Yet, Nasrin is determined to continue her hunger strike, particularly following a number of attacks on her family, including the forceful raid of her home and arrest of her 20-year-old daughter, Mehraveh, seven days into her strike, the arrest and sentencing of her husband last year, and cutting off her family from her bank accounts earlier this year. Nasrin has dedicated her life to advancing human rights in Iran. She is a leader in the women’s rights movement and the struggle for equality, peace and against the death penalty, especially for children.”

Mr Diamond, who works for Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, noted the women’s rights campaigner was not taken to hospital until day 40 of her hunger strike - adding that this came after weeks of her experiencing low blood pressure and blood sugar, recurring migraines, vomiting and problems breathing.

He noted that when Ms Sotoudeh started her strike, 12 out of 17 prisoners tested in a single ward in the jail tested positive for coronavirus. She is calling for the release of political prisoners in the wake of the public health crisis, the lawyer said.

Mr Diamond said there was “no more fitting candidate” for the Nobel Peace Prize than Ms Sotoudeh as he called for the international community to let her know “she is not alone” and give her “the lifeline she needs”.

“Our representatives should make it clear to Iranian diplomats that they will not engage with Iran if it continues to imprison human rights defenders like Nasrin Sotoudeh, who is emblematic of this oppression,” he added. “The UK Foreign Office should impose human rights sanctions on those Iranian officials responsible for the systematic targeting of human rights defenders.”

Ms Sotoudeh, a laureate of the European parliament’s Sakharov Prize, was arrested on charges of collusion and propaganda against Iran’s leaders in 2018 and handed a 38 year prison sentence and 148 lashes. 

Shaparak Shajarizadeh, a woman’s rights activist who is one of Ms Sotoudeh’s last clients, told The Independent: ”When Nasrin Sotoudeh accepted to be my attorney, she knew the risk that she was taking. She told me that she was one of us and was supporting our cause of opposing the ‘compulsory hijab’ by defending us.

“She was like a pillar of strength when I was in prison on hunger strike. I am so worried and feeling helpless knowing that she is on hunger strike for almost 50 days.”

Irwin Cotler, the former justice minister of Canada who is the chair of Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, which serves as Ms Sotoudeh’s international legal team, told The Independent the campaigner is the “embodiment of the struggle” for human rights in Iran.

He added: “She has gone down the line for women’s rights defenders, children on death row, journalists, opposition figures, religious minorities, public demonstrators, among others. She is now putting her life on the line for her fellow political prisoners. We all must speak out in solidarity with her and hold her persecutors to account.”

Karin Karlekar, of PEN America, urged the United Nations to urgently intervene to make sure Ms Sotoudeh is released from jail.

She said: “It is a travesty that Nasrin, a leading women’s rights lawyer, is on day 46 of a hunger strike in Evin prison, punished for her commitment to gender equality, while the United Nations is preparing to celebrate the 25th anniversary celebration of Beijing Women’s conference on 1 October.”