May 14, 2011
Legal expert and Women’s Rights activist, Nasrin Soutodeh, who has been held in Evin Prison’s Quarantine section for a while, is worried about her mother’s illness and old age. She is not allowed to visit or call her mother. Her husband, Reza Khandan, told Kalame News, “At the beginning of her imprisonment Nasrin lost her father, and the authorities didn’t even permit her to attend his funeral. Now we are very worried about my wife’s mother. We fear that, God forbid,she will meet the same end as Nasrin’s father without ever seeing her daughter.”
Because of her illness and old age, Nasrin’s mother cannot enter the visitor’s area at Evin Prison to see her daughter. Female political prisoners are also not allowed to make any telephone calls. Since Nasrin Sotoudeh was transferred from Section 209 at the Ministry of Intelligence to the women’s quarantine at Evin Prison, she has not been allowed to see her young children. In Section 209, she at least had a few minutes to see her children in person.
Bahareh Hedayat, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Leila Tavassoli, Atefeh Nabavi, Mahdieh Golrou, Nazanin Hassania, Hengameh Shahidi, Fatemeh Darvish, Parvin Javadzadeh, Aliya Eghdamdoost, Hanieh Farshi Shotorban, Ladan Mostafavi, Sholeh Taeb, Manijeh Nasrollahi, Sohba Rezvani, Sousan Tebyanian, Nazila Dashti, Farah Vazehan, Kefayat Malekmohammadi, Zahra Jabbari, and Fatemeh Khorramjo are currently also held at Evin Prison’s quarantine.
Despite international pressure and a hunger strike protesting the illegal accusations against her, lawyer and Human Rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh is still held at Evin Prison. On September 4, 2010, she was arrested, and Judge Pir Abbasi sentenced her to 11 years in prison, in addition to a 20-year ban from practicing the law and travelling outside the country.