Nasrin Sotoudeh Denied Furlough, Telephone Contact

Prominent human rights defender Nasrin Sotoudeh was deprived of furlough and telephone contact with her family during the Persian New Year, her husband Reza Khandan told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran in an interview.

“Unfortunately, after two years of imprisonment, her leave was denied and she and the other women in her ward were not even allowed to make telephone calls to their families during the holidays. Some male political prisoners were allowed to spend Nowruz near their families, but none of the female political prisoners were allowed even hourly leave during these special days. We did not hear from Ms. Sotoudeh from 19 through 29 March. Ten days after Nowruz, they finally allowed visitation, and the kids and I were able to see her,” said Khandan.

Khandan added that this is the second year Sotoudeh’s family is spending the Persian New Year without her. “We regard Ms. Sotoudeh’s sentence as one without any legitimacy, and we also [object to] the lack of observation of her basic rights in prison. She has been denied the right to make telephone calls for almost a whole year. Many non-political prisoners have telephone sets above their beds and they can call whomever they want daily. They can even take care of their business affairs by phone. But female political prisoners, even on our most important celebration, Nowruz, were deprived from having simple phone calls to their families.”

Sotoudeh’s husband also told the Campaign that her family continues to believe she is being detained illegally and demands her prompt release.

The most important point is the illegal arrest of Nasrin Sotoudeh without a crime. She is a mother of two young children who has been in prison for the past 19 months. We demand her prompt release. She and the other prisoners who have been detained for unfounded reasons and who do not have a scrap of criminal element inside their case files must be released immediately, [the Judiciary] knows this better than the rest of us,”

Nasrin Sotoudeh was arrested on 21 September 2010, and on 8 January 2011, she was sentenced to 11 years in prison, 20 years’ ban on her legal practice, and 20 years ban on foreign travel on charges of “acting against national security,” “collusion and propagation against the Islamic Republic,” and “membership in the Defenders of Human Rights Center.” Her sentence was subsequently upheld in its entirety by an appeals court.

“The policy the authorities have adopted vis-a-vis the political prisoners has been one of silence. Unfortunately, none of the officials consider themselves accountable to the families of political prisoners. We have never received any replies to our written and verbal requests. I mean even if you write ten furlough or any other types of request, if the officials are against it, they never provide you with an answer about their reasons for opposing it. hey completely ignore our letters and verbal requests. I don’t know why they denied a leave for Ms. Sotoudeh.”