Photograph by Maryam Hosseinkhah

Front Line has a team of 10 enthusiastic women who ran the 2011 Women’s Mini Marathon in Dublin. This year they ran for Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent human rights lawyer in Iran imprisoned because of her peaceful work to protect and defend others.
Nasrin has represented many defenders campaigning for justice and human rights in Iran and has also worked extensively with young prisoners who have been sentenced to death for crimes they committed when they were under 18.
Prior to her imprisonment, Nasrin was a target of harassment on the part of the authorities. Her home and office were searched. Her assets were frozen. Falsified allegations against her and other human rights lawyers were created. In January 2010 she was threatened with arrest if she continued to speak out about cases for which she acted as defence. In September 2010 she was arrested and held in solitary confinement.
On the 9th January 2011 Nasrin was sentenced to 11 years in prison and banned from working as a lawyer or leaving the country for 20 years. This sentence has been given to her, not for any criminal activity, but as a result of her peaceful human rights work. She was accused of ‘spreading propaganda’ and ‘conspiring to harm state security’. On the 31st May 2011 her appeal was postponed indefinitely.
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