Of course, I am optimistic for the future. I have no doubt that equality will prevail, because without equality you cannot have peace and love, and without peace and love, life is empty
Nasrin Sotoudeh
Nasrin Sotoudeh is an Iranian human rights lawyer and advocate for marginalized groups and women’s rights. She began practicing law in 2003, focusing on minors on death row and oppositional activists. Sotoudeh is best known for taking over the defense of Shaparak Shajarizadeh and others who protested the obligation to wear the hijab. Arrested in 2010 for endangering state security, she served two years of her initial 11-year charge and was barred from practicing law for 20 years.
She is also known for working in defense of women seeking divorce from their abusive husbands. Arrested again in 2018, she is still serving time in prison. Her recent six-week hunger strike served to bring attention to the detention conditions of political prisoners in Iran since the outbreak of the Covid-19 emergency.
Born in 1963, Iran
Selected resources
- https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/nasrin-sotoudeh
- https://rightlivelihood.org/the-change-makers/find-a-laureate/nasrin-sotoudeh/
- “Nasrin”, a 2020 documentary written and directed by Jeff Kaufman and produced by Marcia Ross