CNN —
A distinguished Iranian human rights lawyer informed CNN {that a} brutal state crackdown has quelled protests which have swept the nation for months, however many Iranians nonetheless need regime change.
“The protests have calmed down considerably, however that does not imply the individuals are not indignant. The individuals have all the time needed, and nonetheless need, a change of presidency. They need a referendum,” Nasrin Sotoudeh informed CNN worldwide anchor Christiane Amanpour in an unique interview from her Tehran residence on Wednesday.
Sotoudeh, a world-renowned advocate for the rights of girls, kids and activists in Iran, was sentenced to 38 years in jail and 148 lashes in March 2019 and is at present on medical parole from jail.
The loss of life of 22-year-old Martha Amini within the custody of Iran’s so-called morality police final fall sparked nationwide protests, erupting a long time of resentment over the regime’s remedy of girls and different points.
Figures like Sotoudeh, who has fought towards the obligatory hijab for ladies in Iran, have come underneath elevated authorities scrutiny because the rebellion.
After Amini, a Kurdish lady in Iran, died in detention for allegedly sporting her hijab improperly, the protests escalated right into a full-blown girls’s rights motion towards the nation’s headband legal guidelines.
“This difficulty has actually harm the collective conscience of the Iranian individuals as a result of the Iranian individuals have suffered for a few years, and one of many most important sufferings is that half of the inhabitants is continually harassed due to their gender and their physique,” she mentioned.
“I consider that each in Iran and in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, the hijab is used as a method to perpetrate violence towards girls, to inflict harm and hurt on girls, after which veiled away to cover that harm and ache.”
The Islamic Republic of Iran has lengthy ranked among the many world’s main executioners, however critics say latest loss of life sentences handed all the way down to protesters have seen the regime take its loss of life penalty to a brand new degree.
There have additionally been reviews of pressured detention and bodily abuse focusing on Iran’s Kurdish minority, and a CNN investigation primarily based on confidential testimony has uncovered sexual violence towards protesters, together with boys, in Iranian detention amenities because the unrest started.
Concerns had been raised over the well being of jailed Iranian physician and civil rights activist Farhad Meisami final week after pictures purportedly exhibiting his frail situation had been revealed on social media.
“It is really saddening to listen to a lot dangerous information from Iran for thus a few years, together with images of Farhad Meisami’s emaciated state in jail,” mentioned Sotoudeh, Meisami’s good friend.
She added: “[Meisami]mentioned, ‘I’m towards the obligatory sporting of the hijab,’ and he wrote it on a placard, so the authorities jailed him.”
The textual content of the letter, purportedly written by Meisami and offered to CNN by human rights lawyer Mohamed Moghimi, who claims to characterize her, mentioned the activist had begun a starvation strike to protest the execution of prisoners, name for the discharge of a number of protesters, and block the implementation of the hijab legislation. CNN couldn’t confirm the authenticity of the letter.
Photos posted on social media confirmed Meisami with protruding bones and a shaved head. CNN has been unable to confirm when the picture was taken. CNN has reached out to the Iranian Foreign Ministry for remark.
“For a few years, Farhad has been a really lively member of our civil society, however within the final decade, [his] “Activism is changing into increasingly more open, and he has supported the protest motion, particularly girls,” Sotoudeh added.
Maysami was jailed in 2018 after expressing help for ladies protesting towards hijab legal guidelines. She was charged with “meeting and conspiracy to behave towards nationwide safety” and “propaganda towards the regime,” in accordance with the Iran-focused group Human Rights Activists.
After pictures of Maysami had been circulated on-line, state media denied on Friday that the activist was at present on starvation strike and mentioned his situation was “good.”
“Farad’s calls for are additionally the calls for of the whole Iranian individuals. We hope that these calls for can be realized as quickly as attainable in order that Farad’s life will be saved and we will all be saved,” Sotoudeh informed Amanpour.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei final week authorised a proposal to pardon or commute the sentences of many prisoners as a part of an annual amnesty, state media reported.
But humanitarian teams dismissed the transfer as “propaganda” and a “publicity stunt” forward of the forty fourth anniversary of the “victory of the Islamic Revolution” on February 11. It is customary for Khamenei to pardon some prisoners to mark the event.
“This is a state of affairs that’s repeated yearly. I do not wish to have false hope that they’ll launch individuals. I wish to have hope that they’ll launch political prisoners, whether or not it’s one or 10,000. I’d be very proud of any launch and that’s my hope,” Sotoudeh mentioned of the announcement.
Looking to the longer term, the Iranian lawyer mentioned that though he’s nervous about talking out towards the federal government, he’s dedicated to liberating future generations from the regime’s clutches.
“We do not know what the precise end result can be. We do not know. But individuals’s calls for have gotten increasingly more clear and vocal,” she added.
When requested if she feared for her personal security, Sotoudeh replied, “Yes… as a mom, I do know that my household, my kids, are being threatened, and I do know that it may disrupt their schooling, hinder their progress… sure, it scares me.”
But such considerations will not cease her battle, she informed Amanpour.
“But on the identical time, we’re afraid that if we stay passive, the state of affairs will worsen,” Sotoudeh added.
“Despite the worry I really feel, I’m attempting to do extra to assist liberate my nation and its individuals.”