Reza Khandan: Nasrin Sotoudeh's Arrest Was Ordered by the Ministry of Intelligence

Nasrin Sotoudeh's husband reported that the arrest of this lawyer was carried out with a 'written order' from the Ministry of Intelligence and that two cases have been opened against her. Reza Khandan wrote on his Facebook on Tuesday, July 16, that Nasrin Sotoudeh was sentenced to five years in prison in a case where the ruling was issued in absentia on October 5, 2016. According to Mr. Khandan, 'sit-ins in front of the Bar Association', 'interviews with various media', 'secret meetings with diplomats from foreign embassies', and 'membership in Legam (the campaign to abolish the death penalty step by step)' are among the charges against this lawyer in this case. On Wednesday, June 13, after Nasrin Sotoudeh's arrest, he told Radio Farda that the agents had an arrest warrant that was 'apparently issued based on a five-year sentence previously issued by the Revolutionary Court for her.' Nasrin Sotoudeh's husband also wrote that her actions regarding the girls of the Revolution Street and the complaint of the Kashan prosecutor are among the charges in her recent case. He reported that Nasrin Sotoudeh was summoned to the prosecutor's office last week and the charge of 'membership in Legam' was communicated to her. According to Mr. Khandan, the communication of the charge to Ms. Sotoudeh occurred while this charge was among the accusations that led to her five-year prison sentence. Reza Khandan reported on Sunday, July 1, that the prosecutor's office had rejected the lawyers introduced by Nasrin Sotoudeh. Nasrin Sotoudeh was arrested on June 13 and after her arrest, she informed her husband via telephone that she was arrested due to a complaint from Mehdi Paytam, the prosecutor of the Shaparak Shajari case in the Kashan prosecutor's office. Shaparak Shajari, one of the girls of the Revolution Street, was arrested for the second time in Kashan on May 7. Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was representing Ms. Shajari, had informed the media about her client's hunger strike. Ms. Shajari was released on May 15. Heather Nauert, the spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, expressed concern over Nasrin Sotoudeh's re-arrest on June 24 and called for her immediate release. On the same day, some civil activists protested against the arrest of this lawyer and human rights activist in front of Evin Prison, where several of them were beaten by agents and detained for hours. Mohammad Nourizad, Mohammad Maleki, Jafar Panahi, Davood Farahani, and Farideh Moradkhani were among the figures whose images were published in front of Evin Prison. Nasrin Sotoudeh was also arrested in September 2010 and sentenced to 11 years in prison, 20 years of disqualification from practicing law, and 20 years of prohibition from leaving the country, which was reduced to six years in prison and 10 years of disqualification from practicing law in the appeals court. She was ultimately released after serving three years in prison.