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The prominent Iranian lawyer, newly appointed citizen of honor of the City of Paris, is currently serving a sentence of thirty-eight years in prison. She is also sentenced to 148 lashes for "contempt of court". Over time, Nasrin Sotoudeh has emerged as the face of the struggle for human rights in a country where they are often flouted. A petition seeking his release has collected nearly 300,000 signatures.
" A beating ", " a model of obstinacy ", " a symbol of resilience ". At the mention of Nasrin Sotoudeh, one only gets praise and flattering formulations. It must be said that through her battles, at the head of which are the fight against the compulsory wearing of the hijab and the defense of political opponents, the Iranian lawyer has built a solid reputation in her country. Its notoriety was quick to cross the borders of the Islamic Republic: the jurist has become a standard bearer of the struggle for human rights in the eyes of the international community. Witness the reward that was awarded on April 1: the honorary citizenship of the City of Paris. The Paris Council believes that " its struggles bring it closer to the values of the capital ".
Her activism, however, led her to multiple stays in prison. Since June 2018, she has been imprisoned in a prison in Evin, north of Tehran. A petition , launched by the National Council of Bars of France , calling on Iran to release it, has collected nearly 300,000 signatures to date. A request reiterated by Emmanuel Macron during his meeting with President Rohani Tuesday, April 9.
The strong character of the 55-year-old lawyer arises from her youth. Nasrin Sotoudeh comes from a traditional family, as is plethora of Iran in the 1960s. If her mother wore the veil, neither she nor her husband made it an imperative for their daughter Nasrin. " If I had to put it on, I would have refused, " she said simply to Sara Saidi, correspondent for the daily Libération in Tehran between 2016 and January 2019, in an interview. And the journalist to clarify: " This is the proof of a certain strength of conviction ."
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In 1995, at the age of 32, Nasrin Sotoudeh passed the bar exam successfully and began defending abused children and women whose rights were violated. Then begins her fight for human rights, first by joining a feminist movement in the early 2000s, then by filing a complaint against police officers who targeted women during a demonstration. A fight that " this woman of less than 1.60 meters leads with a disconcerting calm ", to quote the formula of Sara Saidi.
When the journalist meets her in 2018, lawyers around her are arrested. " Despite the eddies that surrounded her, she kept that soothing voice. It was surprising. The fifty-year-old, " elegant and orderly, " takes a more preoccupied tone when the question of his children comes up. " It's a mother and it feels, " says the journalist. Her husband, Reza Khandan did not marry her: he also married his convictions. To the point, too, to make a passage through the prison cell in 2018. To get out, Nasrin Sotoudeh will not hesitate to go on a hunger strike. Paying, since it will finally be released. " He has a lot of respect for my work. One day, he said to me: "Do what you have to do, we will get out of it," says the lawyer during her interview with Sara Saidi.
Sentencing conviction
His opposition to the violation of human rights is reminiscent of Shirin Ebadi's activism. This former judge, nemesis of the mullahs crowned by the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, Nasrin Sotoudeh holds in high esteem. She was able to join her in the Center for Human Rights Defenders. Choice for which she will be sentenced.
Nasrin Sotoudeh discovers prison life for the first time in 2010 for "actions against national security and propaganda against the regime". In fact, he is accused of having defended various opponents of the controversial re-election of conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. She gets six years in prison. That's when his name appears in the eyes of the international community. The latter will soon rebel. The European Parliament will award him the Sakharov prize for freedom of thought in 2012.
She was released in 2013 but her field of action is hampered by a ban on litigation in the courts. " After having experienced the Ahmadinejad era very badly, she had a new hope with Rohani ... But the record of it is very slim on the rights issues ," said Karim Lahidji, Honorary President of the Federation International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH). Disillusionment seizes her at first. But Nasrin Sotoudeh refuses to surrender.
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In 2015, on the occasion of the filming of the critically acclaimed movie Taxi Tehran , the lawyer puts aside her dress of lawyer but not her convictions. She plays her own role, that of a lawyer. In a reply, she says: " In Iran, if you start to be afraid, you do not do anything anymore ". What to gild a little more his image in the eyes of the Iranian people. " It's a combative society: people are admiring and grateful for their fight, " says Sara Saidi. Nasrin Sotoudeh today appears undoubtedly as an icon, who has sacrificed his personal life for the benefit of the greatest number.
XXL penalty and wave of indignation
The lawyer is again incarcerated in June 2018. This time for defending "the girls of Enghelab street", these young women who fought against the mandatory wearing of the veil. She is judged last March. Faced with the impossibility of using her lawyers, the Iranian boycotts the audience. Judged in her absence, she is convicted of no fewer than seven counts. Nasrin Sotoudeh is sentenced to an XXL sentence: more than 30 years in prison, to which must be added five of a sentence dating from 2016. She is also sentenced to 148 lashes for "contempt of court" because she was presented before him without "the Islamic veil" The access to the report of the hearing is refused him. " She continues the fight from her cell and tries to convey messages of peace and justice , Karim Lahidji argues. Despite the conditions of detention, she manages to maintain morale .
Once again, the international community and NGOs are mobilizing to demand his release. The National Bar Council of France, mobilized on the protection of lawyers, says " proud to display his portrait on the facade of his seat to draw the attention of all his struggle, commitment, resistance and willingness to work in spite of the persecutions it is subjected to ". Asked by AFP, her husband said that the heaviest of these penalties, for "incitement to debauchery," in other words for defending women who had removed their veil publicly, took precedence over others. The latter specifies that she should be imprisoned twelve years, at first. But given the opacity of the Iranian judiciary, it is difficult to know exactly how long Nasrin Sotoudeh will actually have to go behind bars. The umpteenth sacrifice of a woman who will have dedicated her life to the defense of human rights.
► Listen also : The Chronicle of Human Rights Iran: Nasrin Sotoudeh, sentenced to more than 30 years in prison and 148 lashes