DELEGATION FOR RELATIONS WITH ------The Chair -

Press statement concerning the situation of Nasrin Sotoudeh, laureate 2012

The continuous detention and deteriorating health of the human rights defender Nasrin Sotoudeh is causing great concern for the chair of the EU’s Parliament’s Iran delegation.

Sotoudeh, a winner of the 2012 Sakharov Prize, is currently serving 38 years in jail for defending political prisoners back in 2018. But amidst the ongoing pandemic and the dangerous conditions faced by fellow political prisoners in Iranian jails, Soutoudeh began her hunger strike in ’s Evin prison back in August in protest at the risks exposed to her colleagues.

However, Soutoudeh was taken to hospital two weeks ago due to health problems. Yet, she was returned to Evin prison just days later, before finally ending her hunger strike last Friday.

Cornelia Ernst, chair of the EU Parliament’s Iran delegation, has expressed her utmost concern at Sotoudeh’s condition, and has called on the Iranian authorities to immediately accept Soutoudeh’s request to recuperate at home ahead of a heart procedure, and that she should be allowed to freely choose her own medical treatment:

“I strongly support Nasrin Sotoudeh’s call for the Iranian authorities to grant temporary release to human rights defenders, lawyers, dual and foreign nationals, prisoners of conscience, political prisoners, and all other individuals who had been detained without sufficient legal basis during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

“Sotoudeh, a Sakharov Prize laureate in 2012, is one of many Iranian human rights lawyers who are currently imprisoned for defending fundamental freedoms. Her conviction and sentence, as well as those of all other human rights defenders detained in Iran, should immediately be revisited and her case reviewed in line with international fair trial requirements,” she concluded.

Cornelia Ernst Brussels, 28 September 2020