Nasrin Sotoudeh Arrested Again and Released

Reza Khandan, husband of Nasrin Sotoudeh, a human rights lawyer, reported that Ms. Sotoudeh was arrested early Wednesday morning, December 19, and released later that evening. In an interview with Radio Farda, Reza Khandan stated that while he and his wife were on their way to join a gathering in front of the Bar Association to commemorate Human Rights Day, several individuals arrested them and took them away. He said, "Our car was surrounded by several vehicles in the street, and the arresting officers did not provide a reason for the arrest." He added that "these individuals did not have a judicial order or even a simple judicial letter, and their actions resembled kidnapping more than an arrest." According to Mr. Khandan, these individuals handcuffed him and Ms. Sotoudeh and pressed their heads against the floor of the vehicles, making it difficult for them to breathe. He further stated that they were then taken to one of the Ministry of Intelligence offices at Vali Asr Square in Tehran, and Mr. Khandan was released around noon, but Nasrin Sotoudeh remained in custody until she was also released in the evening. Mr. Khandan mentioned that Nasrin Sotoudeh has been staging a sit-in in front of the Bar Association every day and was going to continue her sit-in that day. Mohammad Maleki, the first president of Tehran University after the revolution and a political activist, also told Radio Farda that the number of protesters on Wednesday in front of the Bar Association was "about 100 people," adding that many plainclothes security forces and "military personnel" were present around the gathering. He noted that these forces were taking photos and filming the gathering. The crowd, worried about Nasrin Sotoudeh's absence, chanted, "Where is Nasrin?" and intended to march towards her home. On Wednesday, Mohammad Nourizad, a writer and filmmaker critical of the Iranian government, also wrote on his Facebook page that "today - Wednesday, December 19 - is Human Rights Day. Ms. Sotoudeh had asked us to stand in front of the Bar Association on this day to commemorate it. We all went, but she did not come. We became worried." According to Mr. Nourizad, there was a "large" police presence in front of the Bar Association. He reported the participation of Jafar Panahi, Mohammad Maleki, the mothers of the Asanlou family, the mother of Saeed Zinali, and the mother of Mahinfar, as well as the wives of Abdolfattah Soltani and Abolfazl Ghadiyani, Mansoureh Behkish, members of the Legam campaign [a campaign to abolish the death penalty step by step], and male and female students, along with several students of Mohammad Ali Taheri and Reza Malek, Davood Nemat, and others in this gathering. Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer, had been staging a sit-in since the morning of Tuesday, October 29, in protest against the disciplinary court's ruling that imposed a three-year ban on her practicing law and issues such as "attempting to completely eliminate the independence of the Bar Association and ignoring the rights of dissenters to choose their lawyer" in front of the Central Bar Association in Tehran. She was also arrested and later released on Saturday, November 3, after participating in protests around the Ministry of Interior against recent acid attacks in Isfahan.