Nasrin Sotoudeh, 45-year-old mother of two, was arrested Sept. 4, and supporters say she has been held in solitary confinement and has staged hunger strikes. State media reported in December that she was accused of spreading propaganda against the ruling system and of being part of an outlawed organization, the Defenders of Human Rights, which is affiliated with Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi.
Sotoudeh also represented several of the more than 100 activists and political figures tried on charges of fomenting unrest after Iran’s disputed presidential election in June 2009. Her husband, Reza Khandan, said on Monday that he learned from her lawyers that she had been found guilty. He said the ruling also bars her from working as a lawyer for 20 years and from traveling abroad. Khandan said his wife’s lawyers would appeal the ruling in the next few weeks. Sotoudeh represented Shirin Ebadi as well as Issa Saharkhiz, a journalist and aide to opposition leader Mehdi Karoubi and Heshmat Tabarzadi, a vocal secular democracy activist.
