GENEVA: Jailed Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been sentenced to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes, her husband Reza Khandan wrote in a post on Facebook on Monday, without specifying what charges she faced. Sotoudeh’s lawyer, Payam Derafshan, told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) in December that Sotoudeh – arrested last June – had been charged with spreading information against the state, insulting Iran’s Supreme Leader and spying. The news of Sotoudeh’s sentencing came only days after hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi was appointed the new head of the judiciary. Sotoudeh, who has represented Iranian opposition activists, embarked on a 50-day hunger strike in 2012 against a travel ban on her daughter. Her case then caused an international outcry in which the United States and the human rights group Amnesty International criticized the Islamic Republic.

Source: Pakistan Today March 11, 2019 14:48 UTC