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Karin Deutsch Karlekar, Director of Writers at Risk at the
literary and human rights organization said in a statement
Friday: “We are appalled at the arrest of Reza Khandan and urge
Iranian authorities to release him immediately.
The pro-reform Shagh Daily cited Mahmoud Behzadi Rad, an Iranian
lawyer, as saying Khandan was sentenced in 2019 over spreading
“propaganda against the system” and “collusion against national
security” and that authorities arrested him Friday to carry out
the sentencing.
PEN American said Khandan was sentenced to six years in prison
“for making and distributing buttons protesting Iran’s
compulsory hijab laws in January 2019.” Khandan, also a lawyer,
was summoned to prison in Feb. 2023, but the order was not
enforced at the time, the organization.
His wife, Sotoudeh, is renowned for defending activists,
opposition politicians and women prosecuted for removing their
headscarves. In March 2019, she was sentenced to a total of 38
years and 148 lashes on a range of charges. Since 2023, she has
been out on bail.
According to PEN America’s 2023 Freedom To Write Index, at least
49 Iranian writers were arrested for their work last year,
making Iran the second-highest jailer of writers in the world
after China. Iran is also the world’s top jailer of female
writers.
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