2012: Iran: Nasrin Sotoudeh
Norwegian PEN
Wergelandsveien 29
N-0167 OSLO
November 7, 2012
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei,
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Shoahada Street,
Qom,
Islamic Republic of Iran
Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Sadeqh Larijani
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh (Office of the Head of the Judiciary)
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhouri
Tehran 1316814737
Islamic Republic of Iran
President
His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The Presidency,
Palestine Avenue,
Azerbaijan Intersection,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Your Excellencies,
I write to you to express my serious concerns for the safety and health of writer, journalist and lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was originally sentenced to eleven years in prison January 2011 – a sentence which was reduced to six years on appeal in mid-September 2011. At the same time a ban on Mrs. Soutadeh practising law was also reduced.
Since her arrest Nasrin Soutadeh’s family, especially her young children have been denied full visitation rights, which is in violation of the Iranian Penal Code guaranteeing the right to weekly visits and to receive phone calls from relatives.
As a result of a hunger strike, started October 17th to protest her prison conditions and the restrictions on her family visits, we have been informed that her health is rapidly deteriorating and our concerns for her welfare are mounting.
As a member of PEN International I therefore protest her continued detention for the peaceful exercise of her right to freedom of expression as guaranteed by Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory – and we call for her immediate and unconditional release.
Sincerely,
Gitte Mose
Member of Danish and Norwegian PEN and its Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC)
