More Than A Magazine, A Movement
As mass protests and a deadly crackdown grip Iran, human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh speaks from Tehran while her husband, activist Reza Khandan, calls in from Evin Prison—offering a rare, firsthand account of repression, resistance and the stakes for democracy inside the country.
“My message has always been to use all non-violent means to persuade governments to uphold democracy and human rights. Small actions can have big impacts.”
“… You can’t bomb a country into democracy.”
In a year marked by democratic backsliding, cultural reckoning and organized resistance, these feminists reshaped power, through law, leadership, art and collective courage.
It has been a year since 60-year-old Iranian human rights activist Reza Khandan was arrested in what was clearly another official attack on his family. Political prisoners in authoritarian regimes are meant to disappear into hopeless silence, but Reza has become a force to be reckoned with.
“The crime for which Reza Khandan is in prison is the crime of love,” writes Ariel Dorfman, author and friend of Khandan and his wife, activist Nasrin Sotoudeh. “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, the real reason why he is being punished: Reza loves the extraordinary Nasrin with whom he shares a life, a land, and a cause. How those who persecute Reza must fear his loyalty and steadfastness. He will prevail.”
“I will continue until I achieve legal rights, restore my family’s dignity, and change the conditions of the prison administration,” Khandan wrote. “May the shadow of terror and tyranny be removed from our beloved country one day. And finally, I would like to add: ‘I object to the compulsory hijab!’”
As Israel’s military campaign escalates and air raid sirens sound over Tehran, prisoners like by Reza Khandan, husband of renowned human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh, are sounding an alarm of their own. Citing existing Iranian legal codes, they make an urgent, clear-eyed case for the immediate release of non-violent inmates—many of whom are political prisoners or behind bars for peaceful dissent. With bombs falling nearby, and prison facilities ill-equipped to safeguard detainees, their letter warns that inaction could turn incarceration into a death sentence.
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:
“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.”
Take action: Sign this petition calling for the immediate release from prison of Reza Khandan, organized by Reza’s wife and fellow activist Sotoudeh, among others.
Nasrin Sotoudeh’s courageous husband Reza Khandan was arrested on Dec. 13, 2024, for his efforts on behalf of women’s rights in Iran. Sotoudeh herself has served over seven years in prison, with extra punishments because she refused to wear the hijab mandated by Iranian law.
Take action: Sign this petition calling for the immediate release from prison of Reza Khandan, organized by Reza’s wife and fellow activist Sotoudeh, among others.
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.
On Dec. 20, Reza called from Evin Prison to leave this message with a surprisingly strong voice: “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.”
Monday, Sept. 16, marks two years since the murder of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini made international headlines and sparked an uprising in Iran. Her death triggered the longest citizen-led rebellion in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Nasrin Sotoudeh and her husband Reza Khandan are no strangers to brutal and violent government suppression. The two Iranian activists and attorneys have faced harassment, violence and imprisonment from a government that will do virtually anything to crush women’s rights and freedom of expression.
Nasrin Sotoudeh is an Iranian human rights lawyer and activist who has consistently fought for the rights of women, children, religious minorities and others under persecution in Iran. Over the years, Sotoudeh has spent much of her time in prison, having been arrested for protesting Iran’s mandatory hijab law and resisting authoritarian rule. While in custody in 2022, Sotoudeh wrote to Ms. editors detailing the plight of women in Iran and called for global solidarity around women’s rights. Ms. executive editor Kathy Spillar spoke with Nasrin and her husband Reza Khandan last month.
“The world has gone through darker days. … We’ve made our way forward through those horrific and dark events and times, and so, why not again? As long as I’m alive, I’m just naturally an optimist.”
On Oct. 29, Iranian human rights advocate Nasrin Sotoudeh was assaulted, arrested and put in prison for attending the funeral of 16-year-old Armita Garawand, who was beaten to death for not wearing a hijab. Despite her injuries, Nasrin began a hunger and medication strike and was released on bail two weeks later. She still faces over 13 years in prison.
But the activist and attorney is not giving up hope. “Democratic resistance and belief in civil society always pays off in the long run. Governments can be dictatorial and autocratic, and they can have all kinds of armies and weapons at their disposal. Despite this, we see them fail over and over again, and something better emerges because of humanity’s collective will. I draw strength from all these experiences. I hope you can, too.”