Amid Iran’s oppressive crackdown on dissent, activist and artist Reza Khandan, husband of human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, faces brutal imprisonment for championing women’s rights and freedom of choice.
Sign this petition calling for the immediate release from prison of Reza Khandan.
Imagine you are going about your day—at work, at home, with friends, with family—always burdened by the knowledge that at any time the police could knock on your door and take you away. That is life for people in authoritarian regimes around the world … and last week that fear came true for my friend Reza Khandan.
Reza is an activist, graphic designer, father of two and the husband of renowned human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh. He is now in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, facing a three-and-a-half-year sentence (on top of time already served) for supporting women’s rights in Iran.
My wife Marcia Ross and I first got to know Reza eight years ago while producing a documentary about Nasrin’s life and work. In a Zoom call with Nasrin right after Reza’s arrest, Marcia said, “Reza always projects so much warmth and positivity, but it’s clear that under his sweetness is a defiant strength. He’ll never give up what he thinks is right.”
In 2018, Nasrin was arrested and imprisoned for her legal work representing women who protested Iran’s compulsory hijab laws by publicly removing their headscarves. She was held for over three years until her declining health forced the authorities to grant her a medical furlough.
Soon after Nasrin’s arrest, Reza and fellow activist Dr. Farhad Meysami bought a small, hand-cranked button-making machine, and together made thousands of buttons that said in Farsi, “I Oppose the Mandatory Hijab.” Before they could finish, their homes and offices were raided, the buttons were confiscated, and they were sent to the men’s ward of the same prison that held Nasrin.
Reza was released on bail after 111 days. Meysami was released in February 2023 after a four-month hunger strike.
On Friday, Dec. 13, of this year, around 1:00 p.m., came the feared knock on the door.
On our Zoom call, Nasrin explained what happened:
“Reza took the day off to do some household repairs. He was in the basement working on the pipes when men came to the house and said they had some outstanding violations related to our car and that Reza should accompany them. Reza refused. After I joined them, a man in plain clothes showed his ID and admitted that he was actually a security officer. He said he was there to arrest Reza so he can serve out the remaining years on his sentence.
“They started to take Reza away, but I said, ‘Can you kindly wait for a minute so our son Nima can come and say goodbye to his father?’ Nima and Reza are very close, he had already suffered a lot as a little boy when I was in prison, and I thought this would help ease the shock. I went to get Nima, and he came down right away, but despite their promise, the men didn’t wait. We ran out to the street, but Reza was gone.
“The look on Nima’s face at that moment showed such terrible pain. It was awful. And I couldn’t give Reza a hug or a kiss.”
While she was speaking, I looked at Nasrin’s face just as she had looked at her son’s. Her usual composure shifted for a moment to that same kind of anguish, and she said, “I cannot describe how dark it is right now.”
This cruelty is not accidental. It is a common tactic the Iranian government uses to cause families as much hardship as possible. Punishment for the women and men who champion human rights goes far beyond prison walls.
Reza and Nasrin are vivid examples of how the people of Iran are not uniformly the fundamentalists portrayed in the west. The 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests that followed the death of 22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran’s morality police led to massive protests in every one of the country’s 31 provinces. The official response was brutal: Over 14,000 demonstrators were arrested, and at least 400 killed – including dozens of children.
In a 2022 letter to Ms., Nasrin explained how and why the government in Iran has used the hijab as a weapon of citizen control:
“After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, new laws that drastically stripped women and girls of their rights were part of an insidious larger effort to limit civil liberties for everyone.
“Women in Iran continue to face laws that restrict rights over our bodies, and even over the ability to think for ourselves. We are denied the same opportunities as men in relation to marriage, divorce, child custody, inheritance and travel. This country’s mandatory hijab law forces us to cover our heads whenever we are in public, but it is also a way conservative forces try to exert political control. That control ensnares men, not just women. This may resemble what you experience in the fight for reproductive rights in America.”
I’m not against women who want to be veiled, I just believe it should be their choice.
Reza Khandan
Reza’s opposition to forced veiling was clear when he first met Nasrin decades ago. “When Reza asked me out on a date,” Nasrin told me, “I told him, ‘Look, you should know that I don’t believe in the hijab.’ He replied that it was a private matter, and I had the freedom to choose what I want to do. This was very influential in my decision to marry him.”
“When you respect and accept someone’s individuality and freedom, it goes beyond the hijab or clothing choices,” said Reza in an interview I did last year for CNN International. “I’m not against women who want to be veiled, I just believe it should be their choice. I am against the government’s imposition of the hijab for all women, regardless of their faith or practices. And it’s not just about the hijab. I’m against the forced imposition of any religion or belief.”
It is significant that Reza’s arrest took place on the same day Iran was due to implement a new draconian “Law on Protecting the Family through the Promotion of the Culture of Chastity and Hijab.” (Note: The next day, state media reported that the decree has been “temporarily paused.”) This law would apply to anyone 12 years and over who fail to wear a hijab, and who promote “immodest or improper dressing.”
“While the failure to wear a hijab is already punishable with fines and imprisonment under Iran’s existing Islamic Penal Code,” according to Amnesty International, “the new law introduces more hefty fines and longer prison sentences of up to 15 years. It also allows for the possibility for judges to apply the death penalty under the offense of ‘corruption on earth.’”
Right after Reza’s arrest, Nasrin and a friend tried to see him at the police station. The officials refused to let her enter unless she wore a full head-to-toe chador (a long, full-body cloak). Always the attorney (even though her law license has been suspended by the regime, Nasrin pointed out that that the law only mandates wearing of a headscarf. They wouldn’t relent, and she (as usual) wouldn’t back down. A similar demand was made after Reza was transferred to Evin Prison.
For years, Nasrin has refused to obey any hijab law, which has led in the past to her being beaten and arrested. When Reza was finally able to reach Nasrin on the prison phone, he asked her, out of love and respect, not to visit him because he doesn’t want her to be forced to compromise her principles. That heartbreaking choice is a powerful symbol of the incredible sacrifice this couple continues to make.
After 10 days in a holding cell, Reza was transferred to Evin Prison’s Ward 8, where dissidents and political prisoners are held in a former prayer hall. Because of overcrowding, he – like the other inmates – doesn’t have a cell or any personal space. Prisoners are given blankets infested with bed bugs and have to sleep on the floor. Reza told Nasrin that if this situation continues, he will go on a hunger strike.
The list of women and men who have put themselves at incredible risk in the struggle for human rights in Iran is staggeringly long. A few are famous, many are unknown, all bear some kind of scar, and every one is an inspiration. Like the larger movement, Reza and Nasrin have a resilience and a sense of purpose that will not go away.
On Dec. 20, Reza called from Evin Prison to leave this message with a surprisingly strong voice:
“Dear friends and fellow Iranian people,
“While I am in prison for playing a very small part in defending women’s rights and speaking up for the victims of human rights abuses, it is hearing your words of encouragement that warms my heart and fills me with pride. Thank you greatly for your ongoing support and kindness. I continue to stay true to my pledge of defending women and human rights. I continue to oppose the heavy and unjust sentences given to my wife and the difficult circumstances brought on my children, whose grace and patience through the ordeals have given us strength and peace of mind.
“I wish you a happy Yalda [Winter Solstice] and hope for better days.”
This statement reflects the Reza and Nasrin we’ve been blessed to know: No matter how dire the circumstance, they always focus on others and express an inspiring sense of history and hope.
How can you help? You can sign this petition. And wherever you are, you can act as Reza does by respecting the right of people from all backgrounds to choose what they do with their bodies, how they think and worship, and the way they love.
Update Dec. 28, at 4:45 a.m. PT: Ariel Dorfman—the Argentine-Chilean-American novelist, playwright, essayist, academic and human rights activist best known for works like Death and the Maiden (play and film)—shared this message with Nasrin, her family and the world;
“The crime for which Reza Khandan is in prison is the crime of love. Not just love of his country and its culture. Not just love of humanity and our rights to be human. Not just love for the future. But also, and I think this is essential, make no mistake, the real reason why he is being punished: Reza loves the extraordinary woman with whom he shares a life, a land, a cause. This is what those who have arrested him cannot tolerate. This is a love story. And, at least in the fairy tales and the best stories that our species has created, and in the music and in the art and in our collective memory, a love story cannot be destroyed by violence and malevolence. What an inspiring human being. How those who hate him must fear his loyalty and steadfastness. He will prevail. I send him and Nasrin … my love, what else can I send?”
