Two Dozen International Legal Organizations Call for End to Judicial Harassment of Reza Khandan and Nasrin Sotoudeh in Iran

Two dozen legal organizations from around the world, including the New York City Bar Association, have sent a letter to human-rights officials in the United Nations and the European Union urging “firm, definitive, and incisive commitment” to end the judicial harassment of human rights activist Reza Khandan and his wife, human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, at the hands of the Islamic Republic of Iran.   

The letter details the years-long campaign of harassment that the Iranian government has aimed at Khandan and Sotoudeh, and their family, calling it “extreme judicial persecution” and calling on the Iranian Government to “immediately and unconditionally rescind the [December 13, 2024] summons and suspend the execution of the sentence [of 30 days in prison] against Khandan, drop all the charges against him and his wife Nasrin Sotoudeh, and cease the longstanding campaign of persecution of them and their family for their efforts to protect, inter alia, women from discrimination and humiliation to which they are subject in contravention of the principle of civilisation enshrined in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”  

Additionally, the letter states “recognizing the freedoms of thought, conscience, religion, expression, assembly and association, as well as the right to a fair trial, all of which are foundations of civilised existence, the international community, including the EU (given its ongoing dialogue with Iran), must condemn all forms of discrimination, persecution, and violence on the part of the [Islamic Republic of Iran] – including the use of barbaric, often gratuitous and lethal force against peaceful protesters, brutal beatings, torture, and sexual violence, baseless arrests, meritless prosecutions, and sham trials and convictions, with draconian sentencing to flogging and long years of imprisonment in the most primitive, crowded conditions – and, of course, executions.”  

The full letter can be read here: https://bit.ly/4gEJuAc