Jailed Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been cut off from her family for the past ten days, her husband reports.
In an interview with We-change website, Reza Khandan reported that Sotoudeh was transferred to a different ward in Evin Prison days ago, and since then he has not been even allowed telephone contact with her.
Before the move, says Khandan, Sotoudeh was allowed in-person visits with her two young children in the visitor’s hall.
Sotoudeh reportedly had told her husband that the prison authorities informed her of their intention to transfer her to Charmshahr Prison in Varamin, which would make family visits with her very difficult.
Charmshahr Prison is located south of Tehran, and its prisoners reportedly go without adequate facilities for hygiene and other basic needs.
There have been several unofficial reports that a number of female political prisoners are to be transferred to Charmshahr Prison.
Sotoudeh was arrested last September for her connection to the banned Human Rights Defenders Centre and for her defence of several political prisoners. In December she was sentenced to 11 years in prison and a 20-year ban from practicing law and traveling abroad, having been charged with “activities against national security and propaganda against the regime.”
