Cartoon 35: Sotoudeh the Defender

Sotoudeh the Defender

From October 17 to December 4, 2012, human rights lawyer and activist Nasrin Sotoudeh was on hunger strike to protest the foreign travel ban imposed on her 13-year-old daughter, Mehraveh. Along with her father, Reza Khandan, Mehraveh had been served papers indicating that she was banned from leaving the country without any explanations or indication of her charges, solely because her mother is a political prisoner.

In a letter to her children in October 2011, Sotoudeh wrote, “I know you require water, food, housing, a family, parents, love, and visits with your mother. However, just as much, you need freedom, social security, the rule of law, and justice.”

After 49 days of Sotoudeh’s hunger strike and an international outcry over her conditions, authorities lifted Mehraveh’s travel ban on December 4, 2012. Sotoudeh ended her hunger strike the same day.