Nasrin Sotoudeh has been charged with several national security-related offenses, all of which she denies.
According to Iran’s state-owned news service, IRNA, the rights lawyer was found guilty of “gathering Intel and colluding to commit crimes against national security” and for “insulting the Supreme Leader”.
Prior to her arrest in June 2018, Ms. Sotoudeh was well known for representing women and other dissidents who had protested against the Iranian laws which make it compulsory for women to wear a headscarf in public.
“Nasrin Sotoudeh has dedicated her life to defending women’s rights and speaking out against the death penalty,” Philip Luther from Amnesty International said.
“It is utterly outrageous that Iran’s authorities are punishing her for her human rights work,” Amnesty International said in another statement. The organization has also issued a statement calling for her immediate and unconditional release. Many Human Rights groups have termed this sentence “shocking”.
According to the Center for Human Rights in Iran, after a brief phone conversation with her from prison, Ms. Sotoudeh’s husband confirmed her sentence on Facebook.
She was charged with spreading propaganda, insulting the supreme leader of Iran and espionage, she has denied all these charges
Javaid Rehman, the UN investigator on human rights in Iran raised Sotoudeh’s case at the UN human rights council in Geneva on Monday. While sharing his concern he said that she “was reportedly convicted of charges relating to her work and could face a lengthy prison sentence”.
He added: “Worrying patterns of intimidation, arrest, prosecution, and ill-treatment of human rights defenders, lawyers and labor rights activists signal an increasingly severe state response.”