Her Crime? Defending Women’s Rights in Iran
Her Crime? Defending Women’s Rights in Iran
In their perverse way, dictatorships know full well they’re doing wrong when they imprison dissidents. They betray this by the absurdity of the accusations they make against their critics, as if trying to conceal the real intent of their persecution. The result, of course, is the opposite — the silenced dissenter emerges as the righteous accuser, the tyrant as crook.
The latest proof of this is the new prison sentence handed down against Nasrin Sotoudeh, the Iranian human rights lawyer in jail since June, on charges of “colluding against the system” and “insulting” the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. She had already been convicted, in absentia, of belonging to a human rights organization and stoking “corruption and prostitution” — an apparent reference to her defense of women arrested on charges of removing the mandatory Muslim head scarf. A few years earlier, Ms. Sotoudeh had been imprisoned for “activities against national security” and “propaganda against the regime.”
It does not require a lot of investigating to discern that Ms. Sotoudeh is guilty of none of the above. She is a lawyer who has represented abused children and mothers, activists and journalists. In doing so, she has lawfully and peacefully insisted that the theocracy at the helm of Iran abide by the rule of law and the human rights obligations it has signed on to. She has done so fully aware that law and truth are forces that the Islamic Republic abhors, and that simply invoking them incurs the wrath of the regime.
Her work has earned her the European Union’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought (awarded in 2012, while she was serving time for her conviction for purportedly spreading anti-government propaganda)and numerous expressions of support from international human rights organizations.
—
Read More: NY Times
Iran Briefing | News Press Focus on Human Rights Violation by IRGC, Iran Human Rights