Iran just temporarily released human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh as her health deteriorated after six-week hunger strike she began to secure the release of prisoners policies in his country.
Iranian lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh was jailed two years ago on charges of espionage and propaganda. Iran just released her temporarily after human rights groups launched warnings about his seriously deteriorating health. Last August, the lawyer went on a six-week hunger strike to demand the release of political prisoners and human rights activists. "Nasrin Sotoudeh was released on a temporary basis with the approval of the prosecutor in charge of women's prisons ", the official news agency of the Iranian judiciary said simply on Saturday [November 7th], without giving further details.
Iran has granted temporary release to thousands of prisoners over concerns over the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic in prisons across the country, now the worst-hit in the Middle East.
The lawyer used to represent opposition activists, including women prosecuted for removing their headscarves. In 2018, she was arrested and charged with espionage, propaganda and insulting the Iranian supreme leader. Nasrin Sotoudeh, who denied the charges, was sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes.
In 2010, the lawyer was previously jailed on similar charges which she also denied. She was pardoned and released in 2013 after serving half of her sentence after the European Parliament awarded her the Sakharov Prize for Human Rights one year earlier.