{"id":1296,"date":"2018-09-05T14:31:10","date_gmt":"2018-09-05T14:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=1296"},"modified":"2018-09-05T14:31:10","modified_gmt":"2018-09-05T14:31:10","slug":"husband-of-imprisoned-human-rights-lawyer-arrested-for-speaking-out-must-be-released-immediately","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=1296","title":{"rendered":"Husband of Imprisoned Human Rights Lawyer, Arrested for Speaking Out, Must Be Released Immediately"},"content":{"rendered":"

State Harassment, Arrest of Family Members to Silence Dissent Intensifies in Iran<\/p><\/div>\n

September 4, 2018\u2014Reza Khandan, the husband of imprisoned human rights lawyer\u00a0Nasrin Sotoudeh, should be immediately released from detention in Iran, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in a statement today. Khandan was arrested by agents of Iran\u2019s intelligence ministry at his home on September 4 following his public support for his\u00a0detained wife.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is outrageous that Reza Khandran has been arrested simply for speaking out publicly on the unjust imprisonment of his wife,\u201d said Hadi Ghaemi, CHRI\u2019s executive director.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIntelligence agencies in collusion with the judiciary are ratcheting up their harassment of family members\u2014and trampling on the law\u2014in order to silence any questioning of their actions,\u201d added Ghaemi.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

CHRI learned that several agents went into Khandan\u2019s house early in the morning of September 4 and detained him. Before leaving the house, Khandan informed his daughter that he was going to Evin (Prison). Several hours later he phoned his home to tell them he would not be returning home that night.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Khandan\u2019s lawyer, Mohammad Moghimi, told CHRI that his client has been charged with \u201cassembly and collusion against national security\u201d and \u201cpromoting non-observance of the hijab.\u201d Bail has been set at 700 million tomans (approximately $166,000 USD at the official conversion rate).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In an interview with CHRI, Moghimi said, \u201cMy client and I have not accepted any of these charges. They have no legal basis. All he did was inform the public about his wife\u2019s situation in prison. And to have pins in your home with slogans against forced hijab does not constitute promotion of bad hijab behavior. I strongly object to these charges.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The day before his arrest, Khandan posted a note on\u00a0Facebook\u00a0informing the public that he had received a phone call summoning him to the intelligence ministry:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cToday someone called me on my mobile and said he\u2019s from the intelligence ministry. He said I have to go there tomorrow. I reminded him that within the limits of the law nobody\u2014no agency other than the judiciary\u2014has the right to seek the arrest of individuals and even then it must be a written warrant that states the reasons for the arrest and the charges. Unfortunately, in response to my objection, he said: \u2018Then you will be arrested.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since\u00a0Sotoudeh\u2019s detention\u00a0on June 13, 2018, Khandan has been protesting outside Evin Prison and giving interviews to Iranian media outlets abroad to condemn the authorities\u2019 unjust and unlawful imprisonment of his wife.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sotoudeh, who most recently\u00a0represented women\u00a0arrested for opposing Iran\u2019s compulsory hijab rules, went on a\u00a0hunger strike\u00a0on August 26 to protest her unjust detention and the state\u2019s harassment of her family and friends.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In a\u00a0note\u00a0written by Sotoudeh which was posted by Khandan on Facebook, the prominent human rights attorney wrote: \u201cSince my detention two months ago, agents of the Intelligence Ministry have not only illegally detained the esteemed physician\u00a0Dr. Farhad Meysami, but also searched the homes of my family and friends to find pins made to protest forced hijab,\u201d she added.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a result of Sotoudeh\u2019s work defending political prisoners, citizens\u2019 rights under the law, and women imprisoned for peacefully protesting forced hijab, she has been accused of \u201curging a referendum,\u201d \u201cassisting the formation of home churches\u201d and \u201corganizing protest rallies\u201d in addition to \u201cinsulting the supreme leader,\u201d \u201cassembly and collusion against national security,\u201d \u201cforming groups against national security,\u201d \u201cpropaganda against the state,\u201d and \u201cespionage in hiding.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sotoudeh and Khandan have a daughter, 18-year-old Mehraveh, and a son, 12-year-old Nima.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe intelligence ministry, which reports directly to Rouhani and was responsible for Khandan\u2019s arrest, has become one of Iran\u2019s major human rights violators while Rouhani stands by silent,\u201d said Ghaemi.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For interviews, contact:<\/span>
\nHadi Ghaemi<\/span>
\n+1-917-669-5996<\/span>
\nhadighaemi@iranhumanrights.org<\/span><\/p>\n

Visit our website:\u00a0www.iranhumanrights.org<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

September 4, 2018\u2014Reza Khandan, the husband of imprisoned human rights lawyer\u00a0Nasrin Sotoudeh, should be immediately released from detention in Iran, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[167,409],"class_list":["post-1296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights","tag-nasrin-sotoudeh","tag-reza-khandan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1296"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1297,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1296\/revisions\/1297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}