Nasrin Sotoudeh, on an indefinite hunger strike since October 17, 2012! Her health is at SERIOUS RISK!

Nasrin Sotoudeh, on an indefinite hunger strike since October 17, 2012! Her health is at SERIOUS RISK!

Nasrin Sotoudeh Transferred Back to the General Ward in Evin Prison

Update from Reza Khandan, Nasrin Sotoudeh’s husband
Translation by Banooye Sabz Original translation has been modified by the Free Nasrin blog. 

Reza Khandan:I was just informed that following 19 days in solitary confinement, Nasrin was transferred back to Evin’s general women’s ward. She is back with the other women political prisoners.This is the only news we have received. Unfortunately, we have no news of her physical condition and wellbeing. We are awaiting more detailed reports from the prison.

الان خبردارشدم كه نسرين را بعد از 19 روز انفرادي به بند عمومي (محل قبلي) و پيش بقيه‌ي خانم‌ها آورده‌اند. همين … و بيش از اين متاسفانه از وضعيت‌ او و سلامتي‌اش هيچ خبري ندارم. بايد منتظر بمانيم تا خبرهاي دقيق‌تري از وضعيت او به ما برسدمنبع : فیسبوک رضا خندان

Reza Khandan: It’s as if Nasrin has disappeared!

Update from Reza Khandan, Nasrin Sotoudeh’s husband
Translation by Banooye Sabz Original translation has been modified by the Free Nasrin blog.

Reza Khandan, November 15, 2012: Today, for the second week in a row, we went to the visitation area in Evin Prison. Visitation for prisoners detained in ward 209 [run by the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence) is on Thursdays.  But, despite the fact that Nasrin was transferred to a solitary confinement cell in ward 209 15 days ago,  [prison authorities in ward 209] have told us Nasrin is not one of their prisoners. Evin Prison authorities, however, claim that Nasrin is being held in ward 209. When no one is willing to take responsibility for holding Nasrin, then from a judicial point of view, it’s as if Nasrin has disappeared.

Even though Nasrin has never been issued a court order to deprive her of family visitations she remains isolated and her visitation rights continue to be denied. The [Iranian authorities] no longer even pretend to adhere to their own regulations and laws. They will do anything in order to place pressure on prisoners and their family members…

Reza Khandan (via Facebook): After weeks I was finally [permitted] a cubicle visit with Nasrin on Tuesday.

24 hours after she was transferred from *solitary confinement back to the general ward [in Evin Prison].

She has lost a considerable amount of weight. She currently weighs 43 kilograms (about 95 pounds).

I tried my best to relay the messages from friends urging her to break the hunger strike. I thought perhaps there was a chance she would end it. She said, “If I [break] my hunger strike they [will scheme] further against my family. I cannot swallow the fact that the [Iranian authorities] opened a case file against my 12-year-old daughter [solely] because I [am her mother]…”

Nasrin, someone who has spent her life defending children’s rights, continued, “I cannot just sit here and allow them to do whatever they like to my famly.”

I asked her how long she plans to continue her hunger strike. She said, “Indefinitely. Are you aware what an indefinite [hunger strike] means?” I replied, “No, I’m not.”

Happy Birthday to you dear Mehraveh!

Happy Birthday to you dear Mehraveh!

درست در چنين روزي بود …
زماني كه پرستار چهره‌‌اش ‌را نشان داد او واقعا زيبا بود.
صورت زيباي‌اش مثل آفتاب مي‌درخشيد.
“مهراوه” … “دختر آفتاب” كه باران را بسيار دوست داردرضا خندان

Nasrin Sotoudeh Denied Visitation Yet Again, on the 33rd Day of Her Hunger Strike

Nasrin Sotoudeh Denied Visitation Yet Again, on the 33rd Day of Her Hunger Strike

From the Facebook of Reza Khandan the husband of incarcerated human rights lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh now on the 33rd day of her hunger strike behind bars….We were yet again deprived of visiting with Nasrin today. We have had no news of Nasrin, now on the 33rd day of her hunger strike, since last Monday [November

12th, 2012]. There has been no contact by phone and our repeated daily contacts with the prosecutor’s office, the prison and the visitation area have been to no avail.I am sure that they are overjoyed by our current predicament; overjoyed by their sense of power, their ability to flex their muscles through exerting continued pressure on prisoners and their families and creating so much concern and stress, with such ease amongst our friends and family members.Nasrin was never officially banned from visitations and yet since her illegal transfer from the general ward at Evin to the Intelligence Ministry’s Ward 209, she has effectively been denied of all visitation rights.

By the end of this week she will have completed 20 days in solitary confinement and the next official visitation [next Sunday] falls on Ashura that happens to be an official holiday.

Reza Khandan

Translation by: Banooyeh Sabz

http://tinyurl.com/d7emqsv

امروز هم بدون ملاقات بودیم
از دوشنبه ی گذشته تا حالا از نسرین که وارد سی و سومین روز اعتصاب غذا شده است بی خبریم. نه تلفنی و نه خبری.
مراجعات هر روزه ی ما به دادستانی و زندان و سالن ملاقات هم بی فایده بود. و مطمئنم چقدر از این موضوع خوشحال اند که آنقدر قدرت دارند که می توانند خانواده و دوستانی را به راحتی آب خوردن این همه در نگرانی و استرس نگه دارند. و قدرت شان در فشار به زندانی و خانواده به رخ بکشند.
نسرین قرار ممنوع الملاقات ندارد ولی عملا از وقتی که به طور غیر قانونی از زندان اوین خارج و به انفرادی 209 اطلاعات منتقل شده است ممنوع الملاقات است.
20 روز انفرادی او اوخر این هفته تمام می شود و اولین روزی که می شد او را ملاقات کرد یکشنبه ی آینده است که مصادف شده است با عاشورا و تعطیل رسمی …منبع فیسبوک رضا خندان

France24 Web News reports on ” International Campaign in Support of Nasrin Sotoudeh”:

Web users show support for jailed Iranian lawyer

Web users have been campaigning for the release of Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh, who has been held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison since September 2010, on charges of spreading propaganda against the regime and acting against national security. The movement appears to be gaining momentum online every day, as the winner of the 2012 Sakharov Prize has now been on hunger strike for over a month in protest of her detention, the prison guards’ ill treatment of political prisoners and the authorities’ harassment of her family.

In this message posted to Facebook, Nasrin Sotoudeh’s husband reports that she has only been allowed to see her children once in the past four months. He also says his wife has lost a lot of weight and fears are growing for her health.

Many web users are saying the jailed lawyer’s situation is unacceptable and have taken to the web to voice their support. An online campaign in underway urging social networkers to replace their profile photo with this flower, a symbol of Sotoudeh’s fight for freedom.

Concerned web users have also been posting photo montages and other videos like these ones online, slamming the detention conditions of the human rights activist and demanding her immediate release.

And although the Internet remains their preferred means of expression, Nasrin Sotoudeh’s supporters have also organized and attended rallies, as we can see in these pieces of footage from New York, Dublin and also Oslo… all manner of initiatives which they hope will help them achieve their aim and result in the lawyer’s release.

Source: http://www.france24.com/en/20121119-2012-11-19-0223-wb-en-webnews

Prayers for Nasrin from India

Yajna Ceremony in Nabagraha (temple of nine planets) in city of Assam in north eastern state of India.Hindus were praying for Nasrin Sotoudeh’s health and freedom.

Pictures by Shahin Irani