Prominent Iranian Human Rights Lawyer Ordered Back to Prison

Iranian lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh (pictured 2013) was jailed in 2018 after defending a woman arrested for protesting against the requirement for Iranian women to wear the hijab Behrouz MEHRI AFP/File
Iranian lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh (pictured 2013) was jailed in 2018 after defending a woman arrested for protesting against the requirement for Iranian women to wear the hijab Behrouz MEHRI AFP/File
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Prominent Iranian Human Rights Lawyer Ordered Back to Prison

Iranian lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh (pictured 2013) was jailed in 2018 after defending a woman arrested for protesting against the requirement for Iranian women to wear the hijab Behrouz MEHRI AFP/File
Iranian lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh (pictured 2013) was jailed in 2018 after defending a woman arrested for protesting against the requirement for Iranian women to wear the hijab Behrouz MEHRI AFP/File

Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh is back in prison less than a month following her temporary release as her health deteriorated, her husband said Wednesday.

“Today we were told that Nasreen should return to Qarshak Women's Prison,” Reza Khandan wrote on his Twitter page, adding that the judiciary ignored instructions from doctors to extend her release for another week.

The judiciary did not comment on Khandan’s tweet.

Sotoudeh was released from prison last month for the first time in more than two years.

Khandan had said that his wife's condition is extremely worrying after she went on a hunger strike for almost 50 days to seek the release of prisoners during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Sotoudeh, 57, was due to undergo another round of scans and tests to monitor her heart on Sunday, Khandan said, stressing that she was hospitalized for five days in a Tehran hospital last September.

Also, she tested positive for Covid-19 a few days after her temporary release.

Her husband said she contracted the virus during her final days in the Qarchak women’s prison just before coming out on furlough.

The UN had called on Iran to free Sotoudeh, a winner of the European Parliament's Sakharov prize, as well as other political prisoners excluded from a push to empty jails amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Last August, the lawyer announced she was going on hunger strike to demand the release of political prisoners and focus attention on their plight due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

But health issues prompted her to stop the hunger strike more than 45 days after she started it.

Sotoudeh was sentenced in 2019 to serve 12 years in jail for defending women arrested for protesting compulsory headscarf laws in Iran.



Turkish Opposition Party Reelects Chairman Following Arrest of Istanbul Mayor

 Republican People's Party or (CHP) leader Ozgur Ozel delivers a speech, during a CHP convention, in Ankara, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP)
Republican People's Party or (CHP) leader Ozgur Ozel delivers a speech, during a CHP convention, in Ankara, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP)
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Turkish Opposition Party Reelects Chairman Following Arrest of Istanbul Mayor

 Republican People's Party or (CHP) leader Ozgur Ozel delivers a speech, during a CHP convention, in Ankara, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP)
Republican People's Party or (CHP) leader Ozgur Ozel delivers a speech, during a CHP convention, in Ankara, Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP)

Türkiye's main opposition party reelected its chairman Sunday, two weeks after the arrest of the mayor of Istanbul, the party’s highest profile rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Ozgur Ozel was reelected at an extraordinary congress of the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, which he called to prevent what he said was a plot by the government to appoint a caretaker for the party.

The arrest of Istanbul’s opposition Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on corruption charges has ignited large-scale anti-government protests. Imamoglu had emerged as the main challenger to Erdogan’s 22-year rule since he was elected mayor of Istanbul in 2019, overturning a quarter-century of rule by conservative parties.

The opposition claims the charges against Imamoglu are politically motivated, but the government insists the judiciary is independent and free of political interference.

While in prison, Imamoglu was confirmed as the CHP’s presidential candidate for the election scheduled for 2028, but which will likely to take place earlier.

Ozel said he decided to call Sunday's party congress on March 21, two days after Imamoglu's arrest and hours before the alleged government caretaker was to be appointed for CHP.

"They didn’t have the courage to compete with us in service, so instead they attempted to intimidate our municipalities and the opposition by using the might of the government against their rivals," Ozel told the assembly. "They thought they could remain in power by polarizing the public and provoking new conflicts."

Former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and a delegation from the European Parliament's Party of European Socialists visited the CHP headquarters Saturday to offer their support and solidarity with "all people fighting for democracy and the rule of law in Türkiye." Turkish media reported that Papandreou attended Sunday's congress.

Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, suffered a major setback during municipal elections last year, when the CHP retained control over key cities like Istanbul and Ankara while also making huge gains elsewhere.

In the months since that election, many opposition mayors of both the CHP and the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party, or DEM, have been replaced by government-appointed caretakers on terrorism charges, which the parties strongly dispute.