A prominent Iranian human rights lawyer has been sentenced to seven years in prison after defending protesters against the Islamic Republic’s mandatory headscarves for women.
According to Iranian news agency ISNA, Judge Mohammad Moghiseh ruled that 55-year-old lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh will spend five years in jail for “colluding against the system” and a further two years for insulting Iran‘s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“The case has now gone to the appeal court,” Mr Moghiseh, who heads branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court, is quoted as saying. Ms Sotoudeh has 20 days to appeal the verdict. It was no clear when the sentencing took place.
Her husand Reza Khandan said on Facebook that his wife's verdict was delivered to her in jail and that it was "five years imprisonment for her first case and 33 years imprisonment with 148 lashes for the second case." He did not elaborate.
Mr Khandan was also sentenced to six years in prison in January 2019 for posting updates about his wife’s case on Facebook. [The Independent] Read more
