Amnesty International Calls for Immediate Release of Nasrin Sotoudeh and Reza Khandan

Amnesty International, in response to the arrest of Reza Khandan, the husband of human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh, has called for the immediate and unconditional release of the couple and urged international organizations and the European Union to strongly condemn this action by the Islamic Republic. Simultaneously, a number of civil and political activists in Iran and abroad issued a statement in support of Nasrin Sotoudeh, who is currently on a hunger strike, calling the charges against her "baseless" and "ridiculous," and emphasized the need for her and other political and ideological prisoners' freedom. Reza Khandan was arrested on Tuesday, September 4, after officers visited his home. His charges include "conspiracy and collusion against national security," "propaganda against the regime," and "promoting and spreading improper hijab," with the seventh branch of Evin Prosecutor's Office issuing a bail of 700 million tomans for him. Philip Luther, a director at Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa section, stated: "The authorities [of Iran] initially imprisoned Nasrin Sotoudeh on false charges. They then harassed her and threatened her family and friends, and now they have arrested her husband. These ruthless actions demonstrate how far Iranian officials will go to silence human rights defenders, even targeting their families." Luther further emphasized the need for the immediate and unconditional release of Nasrin Sotoudeh and Reza Khandan, the dropping of charges against them, and the cessation of harassment against their families. He added: "The international community, including the European Union, given their dialogues with Iran, must strongly condemn the arbitrary detention and imprisonment of Reza Khandan and Nasrin Sotoudeh and do everything in their power to ensure that these two human rights defenders are released swiftly." On Monday, Reza Khandan wrote on his Facebook page that someone from the Ministry of Intelligence contacted him and said he must report there on Tuesday, or he would be arrested. Nasrin Sotoudeh has been on a hunger strike since September 3 in protest against her detention and the pressure on her family and relatives. Among the accusations against her are: attempting to gather and protest, participating in a campaign to gradually abolish the death penalty in Iran known as Legam, encouraging a referendum, and assisting in the formation of a home church. On Tuesday, 30 political and civil activists issued a statement calling for the release of Nasrin Sotoudeh and all figures striving for a peaceful transition to democracy. In this letter, Nasrin Sotoudeh is referred to as "one of the most reputable civil rights activists in Iran" who "bravely defends the rights of various segments of the population." The letter states that Ms. Sotoudeh is "a non-violent democrat who has explicitly declared that the Islamic Republic is not reformable; and she has called for a free referendum on the principle of the regime to transition Iran from religious tyranny to a secular democracy through democratic and peaceful means." Some signatories of this statement include Elahe Amiranzadeh, Jafar Panahi, Nira Touhidi, Masoumeh Dehghan, Mohsen Sazgara, Mohammad Seifzadeh, Hassan Shariatmadari, Shirin Ebadi, Kazem Alamdar, Mohammad Maleki, Hassan Nayeb Hashem, and Mohammad Nourizad. The signatories of the statement say that they, like Nasrin Sotoudeh, demand a referendum on the principle of the Islamic Republic so that the people of Iran can express their views on the regime and its 40-year performance in a free referendum - under the supervision of international organizations and independent national observers.