Nasrin Sotoudeh Returned to Evin after Short Furlough

The husband of lawyer and human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that despite authorities’ promises for a furlough that could lead to Sotoudeh’s release, she was summoned back to Evin Prison and none of her letters requesting an extension of her furlough were answered. Reza Khandan told the Campaign that his wife returned to prison on the evening of Sunday, July 7. She had originally been released on a four-day furlough on June 23.

During her short furlough, Nasrin Sotoudeh wrote two letters to the Tehran Prosecutor, requesting an extension of her furlough in view of her and her children’s circumstances, but the requests were not approved and she did not receive any responses. Reza Khandan told the Campaign that as in the furlough leave before this one, the authorities had told Sotoudeh that her furlough would lead to her release, but they did not keep their promises.

“Nasrin had four days of furlough, but she turned herself in at Evin Prison with a 10-day delay. The Prosecutor’s Office contacted her three times during her furlough, asking her to turn herself in,” Reza Khandan told the Campaign.

Khandan told the Campaign they had hoped she would not be returning to prison again. “We thought the situation would change a little after the election, that they would go easier on political prisoners, and that they would stand by what they said. This is why Nasrin had brought a lot of her things with her, but she was forced to take all of them back with her again. The kids and I were hopeful, and then we realized that she would not be released and must return [to prison]. I wish they had never told us anything about her release, so that we could have enjoyed the furlough,” he said.

“She was very well, and only had a vision problem, caused by the unsuitable prison conditions, pressure and stress, and her long-term hunger strikes. But, generally, she didn’t have any particular problems,” said Khandan about Sotoudeh’s physical and psychological state.

Lawyer and human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh has been in prison since September 2010. 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 propaganda against the regime, and membership in the Defenders of Human Rights Center.” An appeals court later reduced her sentence to six years in prison. She was also separately sentenced to cash fines for failing to observe the Islamic hejab, or head-covering.

Nasrin Sotoudeh and her husband Reza Khandan have a thirteen-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son.