A prominent Iranian human rights lawyer has been sentenced to a total of 38 years in jail and 148 lashes in Tehran, her family say.<\/p>\n
Nasrin Sotoudeh was charged with several national security-related offences, all of which she denies.<\/p>\n
Rights groups strongly criticised the “shocking” sentence against the award-winning human rights activist.<\/p>\n
Ms Sotoudeh is known for representing women who have protested having to wear the headscarf.<\/p>\n
“Nasrin Sotoudeh has dedicated her life to defending women’s rights and speaking out against the death penalty,” Philip Luther from Amnesty International said.<\/p>\n
“It is utterly outrageous that Iran’s authorities are punishing her for her human rights work.”<\/p>\n
Ms Sotoudeh’s husband confirmed her sentence on Facebook, after a brief phone conversation with her from prison, according to the Center for Human Rights in Iran.<\/p>\n
Her lawyer said she was charged with spreading information against the state, insulting Iran’s supreme leader and spying.<\/p>\n
She is among at least seven human rights lawyers who were arrested in Iran last year.<\/p>\n
Prior to her arrest in June, she represented a number of women arrested for appearing in public without a headscarf, or hijab – a punishable offence.<\/p>\n
She reportedly faced nine charges in two trials – one was held without her being present. She has been given the long prison term and the sentence of lashes as a result.<\/p>\n
Ms Sotoudeh is also a former political prisoner – she was jailed between 2010 and 2013 on charges of spreading propaganda and conspiring to harm state security.<\/p>\n
She denied those charges and while in prison the European Parliament gave her the Sakharov prize for Freedom of Thought for her work representing opposition activists.<\/p>\n
Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"