Imprisoned for Expressing Solidarity with Armita Geravand, the Latest Victim of Iran’s Hijab Police
PEN America has expressed its outrage at the arrest of Nasrin Sotoudeh, an Iranian lawyer, writer, and outspoken human rights champion reportedly arrested and beaten while attending the funeral of 17-year-old Armita Geravand.
“Nasrin is one of the most prominent and fearless heroines in the struggle for human rights in Iran. She has withstood over a decade of harassment, imprisonment, and hunger strikes without flinching. A talented lawyer, Nasrin has represented some of the country’s most vocal dissidents and championed the rights of women and children to free expression and human rights. For Nasrin to be imprisoned once again for expressing solidarity with the family of a teenager who lost her life, apparently for the crime of refusing to cover her hair, is yet another example of the Iranian government’s ruthless indifference to the humanity of its women and girls. We demand Nasrin’s immediate and unconditional release,” said PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel.
Armita Geravand is only the latest young Iranian woman to die at the hands of Iran’s hijab police as part of their relentless campaign to suppress the rights and dignity of Iranian women. Their physical engagement with Geravand in the Tehran metro in early October, captured on video, resulted in a fatal head injury.
Sotoudeh, who was not wearing a hijab at the funeral service, is apparently being held at the Vozara Detention Center, which is used to hold women accused of failing to wear the mandatory hijab, and is where Mahsa Amini was taken before her custodial death in September 2022.
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