Please take action to Nasrin Sotoudeh, and distribute this appeal widely to your networks

What a relief ...
Nasrin after 49 days broke her hungerstrike ..
let's hope she'll recover soonest and regain her strength; she'll need it

Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been on a hunger strike since the morning of 17 October. She was transferred to solitary confinement in Section 209 of Tehran’s Evin Prison, which is under the control of the Ministry of Intelligence, on 4 November 2012. However, since yesterday her whereabouts are unknown. Amnesty International is seriously concerned about her safety.

On 15 November, Reza Khandan, Nasrin Sotoudeh’s husband, reported that when he tried to visit her he was told by the authorities that she was not in Section 209. That is while the Evin Prison authorities had previously informed him that she had been transferred from the general ward to Section 209. According to Nasrin Sotoudeh’s husband, the authorities at both the general ward and Section 209 of Evin Prison deny that she is being detained there.

On 12 November Nasrin Sotoudeh was allowed to have a face-to-fase visitation with her children. The meeting which lasted only a few minutes was in the presence of the prison guards. Reza Khandan was not allowed to meet her.

Nasrin Sotoudeh, who is serving a six-year prison sentence in Tehran’s Evin Prison, started a hunger strike on the morning of 17 October 2012 in protest at the authorities’ denial of her repeated requests to have face-to-face visitations with her 13-year-old daughter and five-year-old son. Nasrin Sotoudeh’s health, which has already weakened as a result of her previous hunger strikes, has deteriorated further. She was transferred to Evin Prison’s clinic on 22 October.

Nasrin Sotoudeh has told her family that she will continue her hunger strike until the authorities’ pressure on her family is lifted, in particular the travel ban imposed on her 13-year-old daughter. In July 2012, Reza Khandan and their daughter received an order informing them that they were banned from travelling; this appears to have resulted from a case that had been opened against them. Reza Khandan has been subjected to harassment, including an overnight detention in Evin Prison in January 2011 for his advocacy on his wife’s behalf.


RECOMMENDED ACTION:

-Call on Iranian authorities to immediately disclose the whereabouts of Nasrin Sotoudeh and ensure that she is granted immediate and regular access to a doctor, her family and her lawyer, including regular visits by her children, allowing them physical contact with her;
-Call for the immediate and unconditional release of Nasrin Sotoudeh, imprisoned solely for her peaceful exercise of her rights to freedom of expression and association, including her work as a lawyer;
-Remind them that the harassment and arrest of family members of prisoners, solely in order to stop their public campaigning, amounts to reprisals that violate Iran’s obligations as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to uphold freedom of expression.

APPEALS TO:
1. Please send an SMS text message to the Tehran Prison Authority’s SMS service, on +98 3000 5061

2. Please send an SMS text message to the Head of Investigation and Complaint Response Administration (R’ais-e Edareh Bazresi va Pasokhgouy’ie be Shekayat) service, on +98 093 7289 2013; you may need to ‘drop’ the zero following the country code of +98

3. Please send an email to the Head of Investigation and Complaint Response Administration at bazresi.kol@gmail.com

4. Please send emails to:

Leader of the IslamicRepublic
Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei
Email: info_leader@leader.ir
Salutation: Your Excellency

Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani
Email: info@dadiran.ir (Subject line: FAO Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani) or info_leader@leader.ir
Salutation: Your Excellency

Secretary General, High Council for Human Rights
Mohammad Javad Larijani
High Council for Human Rights
Email: info@humanrights-iran.ir
(subject line: FAO Mohammad Javad Larijani)
Salutation: Your Excellency


5. Please tweet appeals to @ALarijani, Ardeshir Larijani, Head of Iran’s parliament; and the President of Iran, on @Iran_President and @President_Iran, and the Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei on @khamenei_ir

6. Fax to the General Prosecutor’s office: fax: +98 213391 9920

Please also send appeals to the diplomatic representatives accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY