Born May 30, 1963, in Langarud, Iran. Her parents were Aghajahan Satoudeh & Safoura Fakhrian. She was raised in a middle class family in Tehran, the capital city of Iran. She started her work as an activist at an early age, first working as a journalist at reformist newspapers. Nasrin attended Shahid Beheshti University.
In 2003, when she received her law license, Nasrin joined the Centre for the Defense of Human Rights. The centre offered free legal representation for political prisoners. She also joined the Society for the Protection of the Rights of Children, where she defended children imprisoned on death row, while rigorously campaigning for the abolishment of the death penalty. Despite it being illegal to execute those under 18 according to international law, some 70 odd children were sentenced to death between 2005-15.
Nasrin was also witness to the Campaign for 1 Million Signatures, which called for the elimination of laws which discriminated against women and she defended many of the members who were arrested. Nasrin also spoke in defense of those who were arraigned after the state crackdown during the controversial 2009 elections, that brought, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power.
A number of international organizations have lauded Nasrin's activism and humanitarian work. She received the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award and the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Sadly, harassment by the Iranian government has never ceased to plague Nasrin's life. In 1994, she married, Reza Khandan, a graphic artist who she'd described as "truly a modern man", together they had 2 children, a daughter and son. After her arrest in 2008, authorities placed a travel ban on her 12 year old daughter and toddler son, the two children were only allowed to see their mother from behind a glass screen. When Nasrin refused to wear a full-length chador, the visits were swiftly brought to an end.
In 2013, Nasrin was released early, upon the orders of newly-elected President Hassan Rouhani, as a gesture of good faith to the international community. Unfortunately, Nasrin was banned from practicing law, but she continued vocally opposing injustices, "I was released, but I was not freed." In February 2018, a group of women in Tehran removed their hijabs in a street protest and were arrested on charges of "violating public decency" & "encouraging immorality & prostitution". Nasrin stepped in to defend them calling the act, "a civil disobedience movement".
Her most recent arrest came soon after she announced plans for a sit-in protest of the new government law to hinder the right of political nonconformists, to hire lawyers. An action she described as a "farewell to the right of defense". While in prison she has gone on multiple hunger strikes including one in August 2018, to protest her imprisonment and the harrassment of her family & friends. Her husband, Reza, was arrested the following month in September. Nasrin was sentenced to 12 years in prison, the longest of her sentences.
Despite outrage from the international community and calls for the couple's release, Nasrin and Reza remain in prison. Despite being incarcerated Nasrin has not been silenced. In late September 2019, the Centre for Human Rights in Iran published Nasrin's letter to her 12 year old son, explaining why she couldn't be with him for his first day of school: "How could I witness the execution of juveniles in my country and be silent?" she asked. "How could I close my eyes to child abuse cases?...I just couldn't, my son."
In July 2021, Nasrin was allowed a 5 day leave from prison, to receive medical treatment, after she contracted Covid-19; her overall health had sharply declined since she was imprisoned 3 years earlier. She had been released briefly the previous winter but was sent back to prison in December 2020.
Side notes:
Chador- a length of cloth worn on the head and upper body, leaving only the eyes visible; worn mainly by Muslim women.
https://nobelwomensinitiative.org/meet-nasrin-sotoudeh-iran/
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We Won't Stay Silent
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