For the Iranian regime, Nasrin Sotoudeh is 3 times guilty:
Guilty of being a woman of conviction
Guilty of being a human rights lawyer.
Guilty of daring to speak out against the regime
Shirin Ebadi and another six signatories of the appeal for Nasrin Sotoudeh's release, among them well known Iranian women's rights activists, have stated that on 20th December, they will start a vigil outside the offices of the UN in Geneva and remain until their colleague Nasrin Sotoudeh is released from Evin jail where she is being held in solitary confinement.
The life of Nasrin Sotoudeh, lawyer, defender of human rights and activist for women's rights, is in grave danger. Nasrin Sotoudeh was arrested by the Iranian authorities on September 4th 2010 for her human rights work and she has now been in prison for more than 103 days. The prosecutor has accused this courageous lawyer of propaganda against the state and activities against national security. According to the Iranian penal code, charges should be brought within a maximum of seven days after the conclusion of the preliminary investigations.
In addition, according to the Iranian penal code, it is illegal to hold a detainee in solitary confinement after charges have been brought and after the start of the trial. But Ms Sotoudeh has been in solitary confinement since the first day of her imprisonment and repeated requests by herself and her lawyer have been ignored. As a consequence Ms Sotoudeh decided to start a hunger strike to protest against the non-application of the law and has been on dry hunger strike since December 4th.
However, in addition to ignoring her requests, the judicial authorities have brought new charges against her, accusing her, for example, of not respecting the islamic veil.
We, a group of women's rights activists, signatories of this communique, who have either had the honour of working with this courageous lawyer for many years or have been helped by her, in order to express our solidarity with Nasrin and in protest at the violation of her rights, will start a vigil at the headquarters of the UNO in Geneva on December 20th.
We appeal to all who love freedom, to women's rights activists, to members of the universal family of human rights, inviting them to join us in calling for the immediate release of Nasrin Sotoudeh, in any possible way - by joining our vigil, sending emails and protest letters to the Iranian government, holding protests at Iranian embassies. We ask for your help in reaching the whole world with the voice of justice for our friend in prison.
Signatories: Shirin Ebadi, Khadijeh Mogaddam, Mansoureh Shojaee, Parvin Ardalan, Shadi Sadr, Asieh Amini, Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh
Nasrin Sotoudeh: Lawyer, Activist, Mother
Shirin Ebadi has also called for an avalanche of letters to be sent to the Iranian authorities and to our own governments. You can send a letter from here:
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6160/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=4638
