US calls for release of Iranian human rights lawyer
Human rights lawyer Nisrin Sotoudeh was jailed after she represented women protesting the mandatory headscarf law in Iran.
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US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert speaks in the press briefing room [Getty]
The US says it is "deeply concerned" by the arrest of a prominent human rights lawyer protesting against the mandatory headscarf law in Iran.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert on Thursday called on Iranian authorities to release Nasrin Sotoudeh "immediately, along with the hundreds of others who are currently imprisoned simply for expressing their views and desires for a better life".
Sotoudeh, 55, who had recently represented women protesting the law, was taken from her home this week on unspecified security charges. She is also a critic of the judiciary, which is dominated by hard-liners.
Sotoudeh is one of the few outspoken advocates for human rights in Iran and won the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov rights award in 2012 for her work, including handling cases of juveniles slapped with death sentences.
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She has also defended journalists and activists including Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi and several dissidents arrested during mass protests in 2009.
Sotoudeh previously spent three years in prison between 2010 and 2013 for "actions against national security" and spreading "propaganda against the regime".
She remains banned from representing political cases or leaving Iran until 2022.
Relations between the US and Iran have deteriorated since President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear accord signed under his predecessor Barack Obama.
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