The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, along with the League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI) welcome the release on bail of prominent Iranian human rights lawyer and Sakharov Prize laureate Nasrin Sotoudeh, and call on the Iranian authorities to drop all charges against her, and to immediately and unconditionally release her husband, Reza Khandan.
Paris-Geneva, 13 May 2026. On 13 May 2026, the Iranian authorities finally relented and released Nasrin Sotoudeh on medical leave. She is now in a hospital in Tehran, under the supervision of her own doctors since yesterday.
Ms Sotoudeh had been arrested at her home in Tehran on the night between 1 and 2 April 2026 by agents believed to be affiliated with the Ministry of Intelligence. At the time of her arrest, she was on leave from prison on medical grounds. According to her lawyer, her continued activism and public engagement despite these restrictions may have led to her re-arrest.
The Observatory and LDDHI recall that Nasrin Sotoudeh has been subjected to relentless judicial harassment for two decades in connection with her human rights work. She has been repeatedly targeted, arrested and convicted on charges widely denounced as arbitrary, including a 2019 sentence to 33 years in prison and 148 lashes imposed by Branch 28 of the Tehran’s Islamic Revolution Court. In October 2023, she was again arrested while attending the funeral of Armita Garawand, a 17-year-old girl who died under controversial circumstances,and was released on medical grounds two weeks later following international pressure. Her husband, Reza Khandan, himself a human rights defender, has been detained since December 2024 in connection with his involvement in the design and distribution of badges bearing the slogan “I oppose compulsory hijab”.
The Observatory and LDDHI welcome the release on bail of Ms Sotoudeh, and call on the Iranian authorities to drop all charges against her, since they are solely motivated by her legitimate and peaceful human rights activities.
The Observatory and LDDHI recall that in the context of an ongoing repression in Iran, the situation of other human rights defenders remains of serious concern, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, whose health has deteriorated in detention and who suffered two suspected heart attacks, one on 24 March and another on 1st May, amid the denial of adequate medical care.
The Observatory and LDDHI more generally call on the Iranian authorities to put an end to all acts of harassment against all human rights defenders, and to release those arbitrarily detained immediately and unconditionally.
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The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective of this programme is to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.
The League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI) was founded in Paris in March 1983, following the forced closure of the “Iranian Association for the Defence of Human Rights and Liberties” (established in 1977) in 1981, and the departure of its leaders into exile. Since its establishment, LDDHI has consistently reported and campaigned against human rights violations in Iran, concentrating on the abolition of the death penalty in Iran, women’s rights, freedom of political prisoners, rights of religious and ethnic minorities, freedoms of expression, assembly and association among others. LDDHI has been a member of FIDH since 1986.
