A prominent Iranian human rights lawyer says she has been banned from practicing her profession for three years.

Nasrin Sotoudeh said October 19 that a Tehran court made the decision based on the demand of a court based at Evin Prison, where she was released last year after serving half of a six-year sentence for “actions against national security and committing propaganda against the regime.”

Sotoudeh told AFP that she would not try to appeal the decision but will conduct a sit-down protest outside the Iran Bar Association’s headquarters in Tehran, starting October 21.

A court last month authorized Sotoudeh — who won the European parliament’s Sakharov human rights prize in 2012 — to resume her practice.

She has defended journalists and rights activists including Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi.
Based on reporting by AP and AFP
RFE/RL
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Court suspends rights lawyer Sotoudeh from practicing law

The Lawyer’s Disciplinary Court has suspended Nasrin Sotoudeh from practicing law for three years in an order issued on Saturday October 18.

Reza Khandan, Sotoudeh’s husband, has reported on his Facebook page that the head of the Disciplinary Court had urged Sotoudeh earlier to surrender her licence because the court was under pressure to issue a suspension order.

In August, the Disciplinary Court issued a verdict allowing Nasrin Sotoudeh to keep her licence and go on practicing law. That order reportedly drew criticism from the prosecutor’s office and Evin Court.

Nasrin Sotoudeh is a prominent human rights lawyer who was jailed on a charge of “propaganda against the regime” and went on a hunger strike on several occasions to protest the violation of her prisoner rights.

She was finally released last year along with a group of other political prisoners.

By Radio Zamaneh