Nasrin Sotoudeh’s Victorious Hunger Strike
Dec 6, 2012
Nasrin Sotoudeh, a jailed human-rights lawyer, ended her hunger strike this week after Iranian authorities met her demands.
For 49 days, jailed Iranian human-rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh went on a life-threatening hunger strike. Her goal: to force Iranian authorities to stop harassing her family and remove a travel ban on her 12-year-old daughter. Drinking nothing but water mixed with sugar and salts, Sotoudeh’s limbs grew weak. Her weight reportedly fell to under 100 pounds.
On Tuesday, her hunger strike ended, in what human-rights activists called a major victory. The news came at a time when Iran has ramped up pressure on family members of dissidents and activists—both inside Iran’s prisons and living in exile.
“I would like to congratulate Nasrin and all Iranian political prisoners and prisoners of conscience for this triumph,” said Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian attorney and Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has lived in exile in Europe since 2009.
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