Internationally recognised Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh stated in an interview that there is a “clear desire” for regime change in the continuing anti-government rallies amid Iran.
According to Sotoudeh, “What is more obvious is that there is clearly a need for change in the system.”
“Regime change and no going back to the old ways are what the people demand. A very serious potential of a regime transition is also evident from the recent rallies and strikes that have been called, she continued.
Sotoudeh stated that she expected further repression from the Iranian government.
“The investigation will go on. But so will the demonstrations. No of the manner of the crackdown, I in no way envisage a return to the old, she added. “Even if the demands of the people are not satisfied, reality will have changed forever. The required veil will no longer be accepted.
Sotoudeh, 59, has defended opposition activists, including women who were accused of breaking the law by not wearing the required hijab. She was detained in 2018 and accused of espionage, disseminating false information, and insulting the supreme leader of Iran.
Sotoudeh received a sentence of 38 years in jail and 148 lashes notwithstanding his denial of the accusations.
She is now on medical leave from jail.
Sotoudeh was sentenced to six years in prison in 2010 after being found guilty of plotting to undermine national security and related propaganda crimes, both of which she vehemently rejected.
In 2012, she received the Sakharov Prize for human rights from the European Parliament.
After Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, was declared dead on September 16, protests broke out all around Iran. On September 13, in Tehran, she was arrested by the morality police for reportedly failing to wear a headscarf in accordance with the rigid regime’s norms. Shortly after her arrest, she went into a coma.
Videos posted to social media on Friday indicated that the protests persisted in a number of places.
The demonstrations resulted in the deaths of at least 83 individuals, including children, according to Iran Human Rights, a Norwegian organisation.
