Nasrin Sotoudeh transferred to Gharchak Prison
Iran
Nasrin Sotoudeh has been moved to the notorious Gharchack Prison in the city of Varamin on 20 October 2020, despite serious medical issues that require her hospitalization. This has been reported by Center for Human Rights in Iran.
Ms. Sotoudeh has serious cardiac and pulmonary complication after being on a hunger strike. On 26 September 2020, Nasrin Sotoudeh ended her hunger strike that she had been on since 11 August. In a letter detailing her reasons for starting a hunger strike, Ms. Sotoudeh has demanded the release of prisoners held for political motives who are at risk of catching Covid-19. Ms. Sotoudeh was hospitalized on 19 September after her health was rapidly detoriating. Despite having cardiac issues, she was returned to Evin Prison on 23 September.
On 20 October 2020, Reza Khandan, Ms. Sotoudeh’s husband stated “When Nasrin’s heart condition became worse, she needed an angiography. We have been waiting these past few days to prepare for her transfer to the hospital [from Evin Prison]. Today the authorities told her to get ready to go to the hospital but then she ended up in Gharchak Prison. The transfer was not announced by the prison authorities but by Nasrin herself who was allowed to make a brief phone call to give the news.”
Ms. Sotoudeh will now thus continue to serve her 38-year sentence at one of Iran’s most notorious prisons. Last year, two hundred inmates from Gharcak Prison sent an open letter to the head of the State Prisons Organization in Tehran Province protesting the prison’s inhumane living conditions.
On 25 September 2020, 16 UN independent experts expressed called for the immediate release of Ms. Sotoudeh by stating that “The evidence suggests Ms. Sotoudeh’s imprisonment, both now and in the past, is State retaliation for her tireless work defending human rights. She is one of many Iranian human rights lawyers who are currently imprisoned for defending fundamental freedoms. Her convictions and sentences, as well as those of all other lawyers arbitrarily detained in Iran, should immediately be quashed and her case reviewed consistent with fair trial standards“.