Nasrin Sotoudeh, incarcerated human rights lawyer on hunger strike since October 17th, 2012 was reportedly transferred to the infirmary at Evin prison two days ago as a result of her deteriorating health condition.
Upon announcing his wife’s recent hunger strike Reza Khandan told Kaleme: “I did everything I could to convince her to change her mind, but she insisted that since she can do nothing while behind bars, she is left with no other recourse but to launch a hunger strike. Imagine if you will a defense lawyer who must resort to writing her own defense on a piece of napkin and have the napkin be confiscated after she is told that she has committed an illegal act. As if that were not enough, she is then denied face to face visitation with her children for the supposed crime she has committed. I am concerned for my wife. Even before her hunger strike she had become much too weak and had lost so much weight that she was unrecognizable to those who hadn’t seen her for a while.”
Reza Khandan added: “From the very start we have faced a myriad of challenges. There have been issues with our visitation rights, and we have been summoned and threatened an issue that my wife is naturally very sensitive about, particularly as the threats and pressure has been ongoing and have shifted towards our children. My daughter has been banned from leaving the country. Recently we were contacted by the 28th branch of the Revolutionary Court regarding her travel ban and we have now been orally summoned. My wife is also aware of this latest development. Our face to face visitations have been denied by the prosecutor’s office for the past three months. Unlike other political prisoners who see their families on Sundays, our visitations from behind a cabin window have now been moved to Wednesdays in order to further isolate us and control our interactions. My daughter Mehraveh must attend a 4 hour mathematics class on Wednesdays. It goes without saying that she cannot skip class every week and as of mid September she has only been able to visit with her mother once. When Mehraveh is not there with us, our visits become that much harder to bear. We requested that they switch our visitation day to Sundays when all other families visit their loved ones or to any day in the week, but they would not agree. Furthermore, like all other political prisoners, our telephone privileges have also been banned for the past 18 months. It goes without saying that it is very difficult for a mother to have no news of her children during the entire week.”
Nasrin Sotoudeh has been behind bars since September 4th, 2010. She was charged with acting against the national security of the country, propaganda against the regime and membership in The Defenders of Human Rights Center and sentenced to 11 years in prison (later reduced to 6 years by the appeals court), banned from practicing the law for 20 years and banned from leaving the country. Sotoudeh was also fined $500 dollars for non adherence to the Islamic dress code (Hijab).
By banooyesabz
Source: Kaleme – http://www.kaleme.org/1391/08/03/klm-117536/