{"id":1653,"date":"2020-08-31T13:52:28","date_gmt":"2020-08-31T13:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=1653"},"modified":"2020-09-01T13:55:29","modified_gmt":"2020-09-01T13:55:29","slug":"imprisoned-human-rights-attorney-refuses-food-to-demand-release-of-prisoners-endangered-by-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=1653","title":{"rendered":"Imprisoned Human Rights Attorney Refuses Food to Demand Release of Prisoners Endangered by COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Husband: \u201cNasrin has become extremely weak\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

August 31, 2020\u2014The health of imprisoned human rights lawyer\u00a0Nasrin Sotoudeh\u00a0has become critically threatened by a hunger strike she began on August 11, 2020 to call for the release of political prisoners\u00a0severely endangered\u00a0by the rapid spread of COVID-19 in Iran\u2019s overcrowded prisons.\u201cNasrin Sotoudeh is risking death in order to break through the Iranian authorities\u2019 refusal to release political prisoners who are falling ill from the COVID-19 virus spreading through Iran\u2019s prisons,\u201d said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).<\/p>\n

In an interview with CHRI on August 31, 2020, Sotoudeh\u2019s husband, Reza Khandan said: \u201cNasrin has become extremely weak and her physical condition is not well. The prison clinic staff say she needs an injection of serum but Nasrin hasn\u2019t agreed to it and refuses to take it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that despite receiving many messages from friends and activists appealing for an end to her hunger strike, Nasrin intends to continue her food protest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to the deep injustice of political imprisonment, the Judiciary will have blood on its hands if Nasrin Sotoudeh and other political prisoners fall victim to the authorities\u2019 total disregard for their health and well-being,\u201d Ghaemi said.<\/p>\n

CHRI calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately release all political prisoners for medical care and testing.<\/p>\n

\u201cNasrin\u2019s condition has become critical\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

On August 26, 2020, Khandan\u00a0wrote\u00a0on Facebook, \u201cWe have entered the 17th day of Nasrin\u2019s hunger strike. She has lost about six kilos of her 53 kilos of weight. Her blood pressure is erratic and her sugar level is very high. Nausea won\u2019t let her hold enough water and sugar and that by itself is very dangerous\u2026\u201d A few days earlier, he had\u00a0written\u00a0that \u201cNasrin\u2019s condition has become critical and she was transferred to the Evin Prison clinic [on August 19].<\/p>\n

On August 22, 2020, human rights lawyer Saeid Dehghan\u00a0tweeted\u00a0an open letter signed by 44 lawyers, stating:\u00a0\u201cDemanding the release of political prisoners and ending restrictions on their right to parole and furlough during the current [COVID-19] crisis is certainly logical, humane and lawful\u2026 but prisoners should not risk their life and health in order to achieve them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Political Prisoners Falling Ill, Not Tested or Treated in Iran\u2019s Prisons<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sotoudeh began her hunger strike on August 11 after multiple letters she wrote to the judicial authorities about dangerous conditions surrounding political prisoners went unanswered, even as numerous prisoners\u00a0tested positive\u00a0for COVID-19 at Evin Prison\u2019s Ward 8 and many more displayed symptoms.<\/p>\n

Despite several prisoners having serious underlying health conditions, almost none have received proper medical care, and only a fraction of those displaying symptoms have been tested. As there is no separation of prisoners displaying symptoms, there are grave concerns that a large number of prisoners have contracted the virus.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s political prisoners were largely left out of the country\u2019s March 2020 mass release of prisoners, which was aimed at stemming the mounting deaths from COVID-19 in the country, which emerged as an early epicenter of the global pandemic.<\/p>\n

Nasrin Sotoudeh\u00a0is currently behind bars at Evin Prison, sentenced to 38 years in prison for her peaceful work as a human rights attorney, 12 years of which she must serve before becoming eligible for parole. Among her charges were \u201cencouraging prostitution\u201d for advocating against compulsory hijab and defending citizens\u2019 right to peaceful dissent.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Husband: \u201cNasrin has become extremely weak\u201d August 31, 2020\u2014The health of imprisoned human rights lawyer\u00a0Nasrin Sotoudeh\u00a0has become critically threatened by a hunger strike she began on August 11, 2020 to<\/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-1653","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\/1653","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=1653"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1654,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1653\/revisions\/1654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}