Barred Iranian Human Rights Lawyer Stages Public Protest

Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh (file photo)

Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh staged a sit in on October 21 in Tehran in front of the country's Bar Association to protest a decision to ban her from practicing law for three years.

Sotoudeh, the co-winner of the European Parliament's Sakharov rights prize in 2012, was released from jail last year halfway through a six-year sentence she was serving for "actions against national security and committing propaganda against the regime."

Last month, a court authorized her to return to work. But she said on October 19 that the decision had been overturned and the ban imposed.

Sotoudeh told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that she plans to continue her sit-in in the coming days.

In recent years, Sotoudeh and several other lawyers taking up sensitive political cases have come under pressure by Iranian authorities.

With reporting by AFP and RFE/RL's Radio Farda