Free Nasrin Sotoudeh - Her Life is in Grave Danger

Free Nasrin Sotoudeh - Her Life is in Grave Danger

The Campaign to Defend Incarcerated Mothers is launched to protest against illegal incarceration of Iranian thoughtful mothers active in political, human rights, and ideological spheres. The campaign is against exclusion of their most basic human rights and their continuous torturing by using their children as a tool.  

This campaign is ow Nasrin Sotoude’s voice. Indeed, it’d be forever the voices of incarcerated mothers like Nasrin Sotoudeh and Narges Mohammadi, who have been suffering from the continuous pain of maternal separation for many years. Though, their voices have been heard throughout the world even through the dark and tight cells. Their feminine endurance alongside their maternal compassion have made them legends. Therefore, they are known as courage symbols and have become global role models for all political incarcerated mothers.

Today Nasrin Sotoudeh, a jailed human-rights lawyer, is in grave danger as her physical health deteriorates after ending a 49-day hunger strike. Narsin Sotoudeh’s mother passed away but she did not get to see her mother for the last time as her father passed away before.

Based on the reliable news sources, Nasrin Sotoudeh broke her hunger strike after her thirteen year old daughter Mehrave's travel ban lifted. Though she is no longer on hunger strike, she has not yet received any medical care and her physical health has not improved since last month when she ended her hunger strike.

Doctors say prolonged hunger strikes can cause irreversible health complications, especially for women compared to men. It can lead to serious health problems including severe digestive and kidney disease, arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat), low blood pressure, weakness and disequilibrium due to it, eye disease. Hunger strikers may also suffer from other serious and physical illnesses, such as life-threatening brain damage, and devastating mental and psychological disorders. 

According to the above mentioned facts as well as the witnesses’ reports about Nasrin Sotoudeh, her condition is extremely worrisome and we should not let campaigns stop their supports for her.

We, in this Campaign, warn again the public about the physical and emotional condition of Nasrin Sotoudeh, the winner of the 2012 Sakharov Prize and mother of two young children, and other incarcerated mothers who have been deprived of their human and maternal rights; whose infants and babies’ life are in grave dangers and severe security prosecution. We ask the Iranian authorities to:

1-    Arrange urgent medical examination outside the prison on Nasrin Sotoudeh and other incarcerated patients with appropriate medical services.

2-Comply with Iranian Constitution and international law, and stop the physical and mental harassments of Nasrin and all the other captive mothers. We also ask the authorities to stop the illegal and unmanly ban of them seeing their children.

3-Stop destructing this prisoner hero woman before the eyes of her innocent children, and do not ruin the future of these two innocent kids.

4- Stop intimidation and threatening of Nasrin Sotoudeh’s children who have been deprived of living with their mother, and do not exploit them as a mean to put pressure on their mother.

5-Release Nasrin Sotoudeh unconditionally, since she has been protecting the rights of liberty and life of her compatriots.

We also ask all human rights defenders, women activists, children rights advocates, and humanity lovers, who have dedicated themselves in defense of human rights in Iran, to:

1-Use their utmost power for enlightening the public about the cruelties and extortion against Nasrin Sotoudeh, this Iranian imprisoned  mother

2- Defend the trampled rights of the children of incarcerated mothers, especially Nasrin Sotoudeh, and prevent these innocent kids being treated like criminals and being deprived

of their mother’s love at these critical ages of their lives.

3- Get support from legal and political potentials, for incarcerated mothers and Nasrin Sotoudeh being released from the prison and returning back to the bosom of her family and children.

4-Apply every possible way to put pressure on authorities of Islamic Republic of (Iran) to make them stop the process of detention and torturing politically active mothers.

The Campaign to Defend Incarcerated Mothers

Jan 3, 2013