Fair family law: Tens of women’s rights
activists have expressed their concerns about Nasrin Sotoudeh’s
deteriorating condition in a letter which they delivered in person to
the Tehran Public Prosecutor’s Office on the morning of Sunday 2nd
December. As of today, 3rd December, Nasrin Sotoudeh has been on hunger
strike for forty-seven days. In the letter, addressed to the Public
Prosecutor General for Tehran, Mr Jafari-Dowlatabadi, while declaring
their support for Nasrin Sotoudeh’s demands, they demanded that she be
transferred immediately to an appropriately equipped hospital.
The women’s activists sought to meet with the Public
Prosecutor General for Tehran but were told this was impossible, and
handed the letter over to his deputy, Mr Khodabakhshi, instead.
The deputy prosecutor opined that only Nasrin’s family were
allowed to seek information about her case. The activists, however,
stated that Nasrin’s condition had a special importance for them, not
only because of its human dimensions, but in particular because she is
one of those lawyers committed to the women’s movement. They therefore
considered it their duty to make enquiries about her condition.
Nasrin Sotoudeh has been on hunger strike, for the fifth
time, since 14th October, and this is the forty-seventh day of her
strike. Her only demand is that the pressures on her family cease. She
is demanding in particular that the travel ban on her daughter Mehraveh
be lifted. The prosecutor has issued an order forbidding her to leave
the country.
According to Nasrin Sotoudeh herself, her hunger strike will
be of unlimited duration. The ongoing hunger strike has provoked a wave
of concern among civil society and women’s activists. One of those
present at the prosecutor’s office indicated that they had resolved to
take up Nasrin’s condition with other legal authorities.