BEIRUT, Lebanon: Iranian intelligence agents have detained leading Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh at her house in Tehran, her daughter Mehraveh Khandan says.
Winner of the European Union’s prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2012, Sotoudeh, 64, is well known for taking up cases for activists, opposition politicians, and women prosecuted for removing their headscarves, including Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi.
She has been imprisoned multiple times and is currently out on bail for health reasons.
Her husband, Reza Khandan, also a well-known activist, is currently serving time in Tehran’s infamous Evin prison.
Mehraveh Khandan, speaking from Amsterdam, said she learned through a middleman that her mother had been arrested in Iran. Since January, strict limits on communication and internet access have made it very hard to contact people outside the country.
The news of Sotoudeh’s arrest comes as Iranian authorities have increased their crackdown on critics and activists during the ongoing war with the U.S. and Israel.
Since the war began on February 28, hundreds of people have reportedly been arrested, often for speaking to foreign media. Authorities have also increased executions of detained protesters. Rights groups say this is meant to scare people and stop new protests.
A few days before her arrest, Sotoudeh gave an interview to a Persian media outlet abroad. She said the government’s policies had “put people’s lives at risk” and also criticized the harsh crackdown on protests in January, the biggest seen in decades.
Khandan said she is worried about her mother, who has a heart condition, especially because of possible attacks on detention centers and because the government has become even harsher since the war started.
Sotoudeh’s arrest also comes after reports that imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi may have had a heart attack. Her lawyer said that during a recent prison visit, Mohammadi looked very weak, pale, and thin, and had trouble moving. Mohammadi told them she had a heart attack on March 24, was found unconscious in her cell, and was taken to the prison clinic by other inmates.
Her lawyer also said there have been airstrikes near Zanjan Prison, where Mohammadi is being held, raising concerns about her safety.
Mohammadi, 53, is a human rights lawyer who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 while in prison. She was arrested again in December during a visit to Mashhad and sentenced to seven more years. Her health has been getting worse.
In a short phone call, Sotoudeh told her family she had been arrested by the Intelligence Ministry, the same agency that detained her before. She asked her family to follow up with prosecutors. The reason for her arrest is still unknown. Khandan also said that authorities took away all communication devices from the house, including her father’s.
Khandan said she fears that news about the crackdown will be ignored because of the war. “It is hard for our voice to be heard right now,” she said, adding that the government no longer seems to have any limits.
