Abdolfattah Soltani's Leave Request Rejected Again

According to published reports, Abdolfattah Soltani, a lawyer, has had his leave request denied for the umpteenth time. As reported by the Kaleme website, this rejection comes despite Soltani having only been granted leave twice during his five years and three months of imprisonment, one of which was for his mother's funeral. Abdolfattah Soltani has represented cases such as Akbar Ganji, Zahra Kazemi (death in Evin), Zahra Baniyaghoub (death in the detention center of the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Hamadan), Haleh Esfandiari, teachers, and the National-Religious activists, as well as the Syndicate of the Tehran Bus Company. This member of the Human Rights Defenders' Association was arrested in September 2011. The charges against Abdolfattah Soltani include 'propaganda against the regime, conspiracy and collusion against the regime, establishing the Human Rights Defenders' Association, and obtaining unlawful wealth through receiving the Nuremberg Human Rights Prize.' He was sentenced in the first trial to 18 years in prison with exile to the city of Borazjan and a 20-year ban from practicing law. His sentence was reduced to 13 years in the appeals court and recently, based on the law of cumulative punishment, it was further reduced to 10 years in prison and a two-year ban from practicing law. After the controversial elections of 2009, Abdolfattah Soltani was arrested on June 15 of that year and spent 7 months in prison. Mr. Soltani suffers from heart problems and high blood pressure and was hospitalized for over a month during his imprisonment. In April of this year, the Iranian Bar Association wrote a letter to Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judiciary, requesting that Mr. Soltani be granted conditional release, considering that he has served one-third of his sentence. In this context, there are concerns about Abdolfattah Soltani's situation, with a collective request from civil activists for his release. This marks the first leave for Abdolfattah Soltani after 52 months of continuous imprisonment.