Support is growing for an Iranian human rights lawyer after she was sentenced to 38 years in prison for defending women who refused to wear headscarves.
Nasrin Sotoudeh received the sentence -- along with 148 lashes -- last month on charges of encouraging prostitution and offering legal advice to women protesting the mandatory hijab.
The award-winning human right lawyer is serving her sentence in Iran’s notorious Evin prison, often referred to as the regime’s “torture factory.” Advocates say she has protested her imprisonment by refusing to wear a headscarf.
Shaparak Shajarizadeh fled to Canada after being jailed in Iran for removing her headscarf and rallying with other women for human rights. She was one several activists represented by Sotoudeh.
“When I was inside jail, I saw her during my arrest just twice. Just seeing her gave me power. I was so scared but seeing her just gave me power. She was always supportive,” Shajarizadeh told CTV News.
“She simply told me, ‘This is a bad law and we’re going to try to change it.’”
Shajarizadeh now lives in Toronto. She hopes the growing support for her former lawyer leads to action.
“She was my voice, she was other activists’ voice and it's the time for us to be her voice,” she said.
On Monday, author Margaret Atwood called for Sotoudeh’s immediate release. Atwood is scheduled to present her with the PEN Canada’s One Humanity award this week, which recognizes writers who inspire others across national borders.
Sotoudeh is the only person to win the PEN Canada award twice. She has also won the European Parliament’s 2012 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and the 2018 Ludovic Trarieux Human Rights Prize.
Atwood said Sotoudeh has “tirelessly defended women and children from exactly the sort of arbitrary judicial rulings that have now been used to silence her."
"Let us call on the Iranian authorities to respect fundamental justice and grant Nasrin Sotoudeh an immediate and unconditional release,” Atwood said in a news release.
This isn’t the first time the human rights lawyer has gone to prison while doing her job. In 2010, she was senteced to six years after defending those detained in political protests. She was released after serving three years.
Kaveh Shahrooz, a lawyer and human rights activist in Toronto, said Sotoudeh has long been “the voice for a lot of voiceless people” in Iran.
“Her willingness to go to prison and to go on hunger strikes and to do all of these things is really a sign of her complete selflessness and her commitment to justice and dignity of people,” Shahrooz, a lawyer and human rights activist in Toronto, told CTV News.
While Sotoudeh sits in prison, Iran was named to the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women, which is in charge of promoting women’s rights and equality.
With files from The Canadian Press
