UPDATE, SEPT 27:

Human rights lawyer and political prisoner Nasrin Sotoudeh has ended a 47-day hunger strike.

Sotoudeh’s husband Reza Khandan wrote on Facebook on Saturday about the end of the strike.

The attorney was taken to hospital for a serious heart condition on September 19, but was returned to Evin Prison four days later.


ORIGINAL ENTRY, SEPT 25: Human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, hospitalized amid a 46-day hunger strike, has been returned to prison.

Sotoudeh’s husband Reza Khandan said that the attorney was taken back to her cell on Wednesday “in the worst of physical conditions without any medical intervention” after five days in a Tehran hospital.

He said she phoned him to say that “the authorities quarantined her…in a bare unit as soon as she returned to prison”.

Sotoudeh, 57, began her hunger strike on August 11 to focus attention on political prisoners amid the risk of Coronavirus and “unfair and illegal” conditions.

Khandan said she is “severely weakened” with heart problems.

See UPDATED: Political Prisoner Sotoudeh’s Health Deteriorating on Hunger Strike

Sotoudeh was a political prisoner from 2010 to 2013 over her representation of participants in mass protests after Iran’s dispute 2009 Presidential election. She was detained again in June 2018 over her defense of women protesting against compulsory hijab.

The human rights defender has been given concurrent totaling 33 years in prison and 148 lashes for “conspiracy against national security”, “spreading lies”, and “disturbing public opinion”. She must serve at least 12 years.

Iran authorities have also tried to silence her by sentencing Khandan to six years in prison, arresting their daughter, and confiscating property and assets.

Khandan said officials at Tehran’s Evin Prison had “not even told us” of Sotoudeh’s hospitalization. The family learned the news from a fellow detainee.

“We were allowed to see her for a few moments [in the hospital],” Khandan said. “She was severely weakened, lost a lot of weight, and had sunken eyes”.