Iran Locks Up Human Rights Lawyer for 11 Years

Advocate of women, children jailed for 'propaganda'
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 10, 2011 6:28 PM CST
Iran Locks Up Human Rights Lawyer for 11 Years
Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi, Peace Nobel prize winner in 2003, launches an appeal for the release of lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Dec. 20, 2010.   (AP Photo/Keystone, Salvatore Di Nolfi)

Iran has sentenced a human rights lawyer to 11 years in jail for "activities against national security" and "propaganda against the regime," the New York Times reports. Nasrin Sotoudeh was stripped of her license to practice law in Iran and also ordered to remain in the country for the next 20 years. Sotoudeh is known for her work defending women and children, but her husband says she angered authorities by giving interviews to foreign news organizations.

Husband Reza Khandan points out that while being interrogated, police told his wife she was guaranteed to get at least 10 years in jail—“This shows that the court itself did not play much of a role,” he says. “We hope that the appeal court will come forward and issue justice.”
(More Iran stories.)

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