Iran human rights lawyer sentenced to 38 years in prison with 148 lashes: husband News
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Iran human rights lawyer sentenced to 38 years in prison with 148 lashes: husband

Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh’s husband Reza Khandan posted on Facebook Monday that his wife has been sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes as results of two open cases.

Sotoudeh has been charged with spreading information against the state, insulting Iran’s Supreme Leader and spying. Last year Sotoudeh represented a number of women who have removed their headscarf, or hijab, in public to protest against Iran’s mandatory Islamic dress code for women, according to the Center for Human Rights in Iran, a New York-based advocacy group.

Amnesty International criticized the Islamic Republic in an urgent letter on March 4 and called for the immediate release of the 55-year-old human rights lawyer. “The charges against her stem solely from her peaceful human rights work, including her defence of women protesting Iran’s abusive forced hijab (veiling) laws, and her outspoken opposition to the death penalty,” said the letter addressed to TO Ebrahim Raisi, the head of Iran’s judiciary.

In 2012, while serving a previous prison sentence in Evin prison, Sotoudeh was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament without receiving a monetary reward.

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