Tehran, Nov 16 (EFE).- Iranian lawyer and human rights defender Nasrin Sotoudeh was released on bail 17 days after her arrest for not wearing the Islamic veil at the funeral of a teenager who died following an alleged altercation with Iranian authorities.
“Nasrin was released from prison a few hours ago after posting bail,” , the lawyer’s husband wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday night.
Khandan posted a photo of his wife, unveiled and smiling, along with two other people.
Nasrin was arrested on Oct. 29 in the Iranian capital at the funeral of 16-year-old Armita Geravand who died after 28 days in a coma.
Iranian authorities said that Geravand hit her head after suffering a drop in blood pressure on Tehran’s metro.
However, human rights groups have denounced that she was attacked by the country’s moral police for not covering herself with the mandatory Islamic veil or hijab.
Several activists including 60-year-old Sotoudeh were arrested at Geravand’s funeral.
Fars News Agency, run by the armed force of Iranian leader, Ali Khamenei, had reported, that Sotoudeh was arrested for “violating hijab rules and acting against the psychological security of society.”
Sotoudeh, known for her activism against the mandatory veil and the death penalty, described Garavand’s death as “another state assassination.”
The lawyer has spent long periods behind bars for “propaganda against the regime,” among other accusations, for defending women arrested for publicly removing their veils and opponents of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Garavand’s case is similar to that of Mahsa Amini, who died on Sep. 16, 2022, after being arrested by the moral police for not wearing the Islamic veil properly. The authorities had then attributed her death to natural causes.
Amini’s death sparked strong protests, which abated months after government repression that caused 500 deaths, 22,000 arrests, and seven executions, one of them in public.
In recent months, the Iranian government has been trying to reimpose the wearing of the veil, with the presence of street patrols, the denial of services, and the adoption of a law that tightens punishments for women not covering their hair adequately. EFE
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