Jailed Iranian lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been sentenced by the appellate court to six years in prison and a 10-year ban from practicing law.
The Human Rights House of Iran reports that the additional 20-year ban on foreign travel that the preliminary court had imposed was not approved by the appeals court, according to Mina Jafari, one of Sotoudeh’s defence attorneys.
Sotoudeh first had been sentenced to 11 years in prison and a 20-year prohibition from practicing law and traveling abroad. Sotoudeh is reportedly refusing to meet her family in prison visits because of “the disrespect the prison guards have been showing her family.”
Sotoudeh, whose practice was focused on human rights cases, was arrested in September 2010 and has been held in Evin Prison ever since.
She has gone on hunger strike on several occasions to protest against the severe prison conditions and the violation of her rights as a prisoner.
She has been charged with “activities against national security and propaganda against the regime.” She was also later charged with “failing to observe Islamic attire (hijab) in public” because she recorded a video message, to be shown at an awards ceremony abroad, in which she appeared with no head scarf.
Nasrin Sotoudeh’s imprisonment has been protested by numerous human rights activists and organizations both in Iran and abroad.
