Source: Radio Zamaneh

Nasrin Sotoudeh, prominent Iranian lawyer was arrested yesterday in Tehran after being summoned to the court at Evin Prison. Sotoudeh received the summons last Saturday while her office and home were searched by the authorities. She was charged with "Activities against national security" and "propaganda against the Islamic Republic regime."

Nasrin Sotoudeh

Iranian Nobel laureate, Shirin Ebadi has announced that Nasrin Sotoudeh's arrest is because she has taken on the defence of political prisoners and human rights activists. Ebadi told Zamaneh: "The Iranian judiciary has long lost its independence and become a tool in the hands of the intelligence and security services."

She added: "But this will not stop Iran's young and courageous lawyers from continuing their struggle."

Nasrin Sotoudeh described the charges against her as "absurd" in an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran a few days ago and reported that four months ago, the authorities had warned her in a phone call that if she does not withdraw from Shirin Ebadi's defence, she would " get into trouble."

Sotoudeh had told the Campaign that her summons was because she has taken on the cases of a number of human rights and political activists such as Shirin Ebadi, along with her husband and sister, as well as Issa Saharkhiz, Morteza Kazemian, Keyvan Samimi, Heshmatollah Tabarzadi and a group of other detainees that were arrested in the crackdown on the protests against the alleged fraud that returned Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power.

Related Articles:

Iran's Human Rights Lawyers Increasingly Facing Their Own Days In Court

Hanging of Juveniles Under the Age of 18 in Iran - by Nasrin Sotoudeh

Execution of Minors and soghra's file - by Nasrin Sotoodeh

... Payvand News - 09/05/10 ... --