Since Dec. 13, 2024, Nasrin Sotoudeh’s husband Reza Khandan—a fellow activist—was arrested for his efforts on behalf of women’s rights in Iran. Now, Khandan sits in the notorious Evin Prison, where his visits are limited and conditions deplorable. Sotoudeh wrote the letter below to him on April 22, 2025, from Tehran. Sign this petition calling for the Khandan‘s immediate release from prison, organized by Sotoudeh and others.
I spent over seven years in prison. Not as a criminal, but as an attorney who loves the law and believes in human rights. During that time, my husband Reza took care of our children, who were still very young. He brought them to school and to play dates and to doctors’ appointments, he cooked and he worked hard to pay our bills. Now, the children are grown up, I am free on medical leave and Reza is the one in prison. It is a strange and painful situation.
Reza has always been a firm believer in full rights for women, and for people of all faiths and backgrounds. When he proposed to me, I told him that I refuse to wear the hijab. He said that’s a personal matter. It’s my business. His answer meant so much to me. Throughout our life together, he has always been faithful to those words.
In addition, Reza has participated in my work as a lawyer and as an activist with special love and kindness. It was as if for him this extraordinary support was just the most ordinary thing in life.
During my long years of imprisonment, Reza never complained, and he always tried to make me happy by giving me good news. I remember when he told me about our daughter Mehraveh’s ranking 15th out of several million participants in the national college entrance exam. My heart filled with joy and hope that lasted for days.
Once, when Nima was no more than 5 years old and had just started music class, Reza with great effort brought him to the prison meeting room with a xylophone. Nima had to play from behind a glass barrier, but even now the scene is so vivid to me that it seems like it happened yesterday. For weeks after that meeting, the sound of Nima’s music echoed in my mind. I would fall asleep and wake up to that sound. It was as if a new world had opened for me.
Now, my task is to try to bring this kind of relief to my husband.
Reza was originally arrested in September 2018 because he had produced thousands of homemade buttons with our friend Dr. Farhad Meysami that said, “I oppose Iran’s compulsory hijab law.” I was in prison at the same time (family and friends took care of Mehraveh and Nima), and Reza was released on bail after 111 days.
There are other men like Reza who put themselves at risk advocating for women in our country. Some of them share Reza’s cell in Evin Prison.
Reza was arrested again on Dec. 13, 2024, when government agents raided our home. It was the same day that the authorities were going to implement a new, more onerous hijab and chastity law. I had demanded repeal of this law, and it ended up being “placed on hold” due to widespread social protests.
Was punishing Reza a way of taking revenge on me? I worry, but don’t know.
Reza has repeatedly shown his own steadfastness and resistance in defending women’s rights. He stands by me, by our daughter and by millions of Iranian women. And there are other men like Reza who put themselves at risk advocating for women in our country. Some of them share Reza’s cell in Evin Prison.
There is a petition calling for Reza’s freedom written by Jeff Kaufman and sponsored by Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, PEN America, The Feminist Majority Foundation, the Right Livelihood award and Ms. magazine. It has been signed by over 1,500 people around the world. I hope everyone reading this will add their name.
I haven’t been allowed to visit Reza in prison because I won’t wear a hijab, but we talk whenever possible on the phone, and I regularly tell him about this campaign and the unwavering support he is receiving. All this gives him strength and hope, which he shares with other inmates.
Despite harsh conditions that have included several stays in solitary, Reza remains strong and committed to his principles.
In March, he sent out a message from his cell that said in part, “Freedom of expression, freedom of belief, freedom of dress, and other such freedoms are among the most fundamental human rights that have been emphasized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I demand the freedom of all political prisoners, and I continue to protest against the mandatory hijab.”
This is a world at risk in many ways, but we ordinary citizens know very well how much international peace, tranquility, and security depend on respecting human rights.
Reza, I love you and thank you for your perseverance.
