A
prominent Iranian lawyer and human rights activist, Nasrin Sotoudeh, has
managed to send a letter out of Tehran's infamous prison, Evin, where she is
behind bars.
While
incarcerated, Sotoudeh says in her bold letter, "I hear some news related
to the women of my motherland that showers me with joy and happiness."
In
the letter, published on the Facebook account of Sotoudeh's husband, Reza
Khandan, the 56-year-old winner of Sakharov Prize has cheerfully praised
Iranian women's recent moves to reject compulsory hijab and defend the right to
choose their dress mode.
"Iranian
women's attempts are mainly praiseworthy for the fact that they have chosen a
non-violent approach towards seeking their right to dress freely,"
Sotoudeh has stressed, noting that Iranian women have been struggling for their
lost rights and always repelled by "religious edicts" that are
hundreds of years old.
Referring
to the Iranian Revolution that led to the downfall of Iran's last monarch, Shah
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the imprisoned attorney has asserted, "Forty years
ago, the people of Iran were led to an arduous path that women also have had a
share in passing through it. [During the past four decades] Iranian women's
bodies and spirits have been targeted by control, day and night" Sotoudeh
has lamented, adding, "Nevertheless, they bloomed and grew beyond
expectations, and continued their struggle to end the round the clock controls
over their bodies and souls."
Sotoudeh
has also praised in her letter the recent anti-compulsory hijab movement,
branded as Girls of the Revolution Street.
Since
December 2017, scores of Iranian women have been arrested for peacefully
protesting Iran's compulsory hijab enforcement by removing and waving their
headscarves on busy streets.
Nasrin
Sotoudeh, employed to defend at least two of the Girls of the Revolution
Street, says in her latest letter that in the busy streets across Iran, women
waved a white scarf over their [bare] heads. They laid bouquets on the
footsteps of the Girls of the Revolution Street. They took off their
headscarves and presented roses to other ladies in the metro. Nonetheless, they
were sentenced to prison for each rose they distributed. They went behind bars
without any complaint.
"From
here, behind bars, I also send greetings and kisses for my compatriot women who
are non-violently struggling through this arduous path, and attempt to end
compulsory hijab," Sotoudeh writes.
Expressing
gratitude to those who have been interrogated for supporting her, Sotoudeh has
concluded, "Let the world watch our unified struggle towards achieving a
basic and common right. The right will be returned to us, not in a distant
future."