Nasrin Sotoudeh: Iran grants jailed human rights lawyer temporary release

She was taken to hospital in mid-September, a month after launching her hunger strike seeking better prison conditions

Iranian lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh. Iran’s judiciary said on Saturday that jailed rights lawyer Sotoudeh was given furlough. AFP 

Jailed human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been granted temporary release, the Iranian judiciary's Mizan Online news website reported on Saturday.

“Sotoudeh ... has been released temporarily with the consent of the prosecutor in charge of women’s prisons,” the website said.

Ms Sotoudeh was taken to hospital in mid-September, a month after launching her hunger strike seeking better prison conditions and the release of political prisoners amid the pandemic.

Irna’s report said Ms Sotoudeh has been released from the women’s prison where she was being held.

The assistant prosecutor in charge of the prison approved her release, according to the state news agency. It did not include details of her state of health, nor details about the conditions of her release from prison.

Ms Sotoudeh, 57, was arrested in 2018 on charges of collusion and propaganda against Iran’s rulers and eventually was sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes. Under the law she must serve at least 12 years.

During her prison term, she occasionally visited clinics as she also suffered chronic gastrointestinal and foot problems.

Earlier this year, Ms Sotoudeh – known for defending activists, opposition politicians and women prosecuted for removing their headscarves – held a five-day hunger strike demanding prisoners be released to protect them from the coronavirus.

The UN had called on Iran to free Ms 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 pandemic.