Rahnavard calls for release of detained Iranian lawyer

Zahra Rahnavard

Zahra Rahanvard, Iranian opposition figure, called for the release of detained Iranian lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, in a letter to the head of Iran’s judiciary.

Kaleme website reports that Rahnavard especially urged Ayatollah Sadegh Amoli Larijani to release the many women political prisoners writing: “It is not befitting of a regime that is known as an Islamic country to hold these women in prisons.”

She condemned the arrest of these political detainees stressing that they are members of the “freedom-loving intellectual elite” of the country.

She added: “Nasrin Sotoudeh, mother of two, was arrested while she should have been availed of a level of immunity while defending the articles of the law.”

Nasrin Sotoudeh, attorney in a number of human rights violation cases and a women’s rights activist, was arrested on September 4 by Iranian authorities.

She is accused of “activities against national security and propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”

Sotoudeh has been reportedly on hunger strike for the past 20 days for being denied her visitation rights. A number of reports have indicated that she is also under torture.

Rahanavard condemned the state’s attempts at fabricating connections between post-election women detainees and the People’s Mojahedin Organization outside Iran.

The Islamic Republic considers the People’s Mojahedin one of its arch-enemies and links to this dissident group could carry the death penalty.

In the protests that followed the disputed victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the 2009 elections, numerous women have been arrested and many have received heavy prison sentences.