Sotoudeh released in Iran

Lawyer and human rights advocate Nasrin Sotoudeh was released from prison on 18 September, along with a number of other political prisoners. The release of some of Iran’s most prominent detainees was timed just ahead of President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to the United States for the UN General Assembly, and was seen as another sign he intends his presidency to be more conciliatory than that of his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Sotoudeh was viewed by many as Iran’s highest profile political detainee. A lawyer who had represented opposition activists, juveniles facing the death penalty, women and prisoners of conscience, she was arrested in September 2010 on charges of spreading propaganda and conspiring to harm state security.