January 11, 2011
The United States has condemned the jailing of a leading Iranian human rights lawyer. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley called for the immediate release of Nasrin Sotoudeh. An Iranian court sentenced Sotoudeh to 11 years in jail and banned her for 20 years from working as a lawyer for acting against the national interest. Sotoudeh was a member of the Human Rights Defenders’ Center, a rights group headed by Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi. The charges against Sotoudeh stemmed mainly from interviews she gave to foreign media after the 2009 disputed presidential election. compiled from agency reports
Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/iran_lawyer_prison_sotoudeh/2272360.html