Human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh photographed in the garden of her office in Tehran on December 9, 2014.
Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images/File

Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh was temporarily released from custody today, according to her daughter, more than a month after security forces detained her.

Sotoudeh was “temporarily released on bail,” Mehraveh Khandan posted on Instagram. Security forces previously raided Sotoudeh’s house while she was home alone on April 2, her daughter posted on social media, adding that they’d seized multiple electronic devices.

Sotoudeh has represented Iranian political prisoners throughout her career and been incarcerated multiple times for her work, according to the US-based NGO the Center for Human Rights in Iran. Her husband, Reza Khandan, was arrested in 2019 for producing and distributing badges that read, “I oppose compulsory hijab,” the center said.

Iran’s regime has only intensified its crackdown on dissidents, rights advocates say, using the cover of US-Israeli strikes on the country. Last month, the UN human rights chief urged authorities to halt capital punishment, warning the “use of torture and mistreatment” had been regularly reported. More than 4,000 people are estimated to have been arrested on national security-related charges in Iran since February 28, Volker Türk said on April 29.

Türk cited Sotoudeh and fellow Iranian activist, Narges Mohammadi, among the “dozens of prisoners” in “high-risk conditions.” “Many detainees have been forcibly disappeared, tortured, or subjected to other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, including coerced – and sometimes televised – confessions and mock executions,” he added.