When Nasrin Sotoudeh appeared before a Revolutionary Court for the start of her trial in Tehran recently, her frail appearance belied the charge against her: that she was a threat to national security.
The prominent human rights lawyer was emaciated and sunken-eyed after 50 days on a hunger strike in prison.
Her only "crime", according to her supporters, was to defend political prisoners and dissidents, such as the exiled Nobel Peace laureate, Shirin Ebadi, Iran's most celebrated human rights lawyer. Ms Sotoudeh was also, like Ms Ebadi, a leading supporter of women's and children's rights.
But such a profession is now increasingly perilous.
At least 10 human rights lawyers have been detained or sentenced to long prison terms in recent months. Several others have fled Iran.
Amnesty International has accused Tehran of declaring open season on lawyers.
"The waves of arbitrary arrests of lawyers suggest that the judiciary has given carte blanche to the security forces to stop any lawyer whose work or statements get in their way," the organisation said in a statement last week.
Ms Sotoudeh, 47, has been held in solitary confinement since September 4 in the very prison where many of her clients have been held. She was refused permission to attend her father's funeral.
After her closed-door court appearance last Monday, she finally agreed to start eating again following pleas by her family. When her two children visited her recently, she was too weak to hug them.
The serial arrests of lawyers represents an alarming trend in Iran's suppression of dissent. Having jailed scores of protesters, students and journalists after mass show trials in the wake of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election last year, authorities are now targeting those who defend the government's critics or take cases that embarrass the regime.
"Working for human rights in Iran now is the equivalent of strapping a bomb to yourself and walking in the streets," Ms Ebadi was quoted in the Wall Street Journal on Friday. "The situation for political prisoners is extremely dire right now."
Ms Ebadi left on a European tour a day before the June 2009 election, to promote a book she had written but, fearing for her safety, has yet to return. She is maligned by the regime as a western lackey, but considered a folk hero by many ordinary Iranians.
In Iran, Ms Ebadi led the Human Rights Defenders Centre, a now disbanded legal-aid organisation that drew the ire of the regime. On October 30, a lawyer who helped establish the centre, Mohammad Seifzadeh, was sentenced to nine years in prison and a 10-year ban on practising law after his release.
While several male lawyers have been targeted, many arrested attorneys in recent months are women. The regime has made clear that it fears the well-organised activism of Iranian women, viewing their demands for equal rights as inseparable from the opposition's drive for greater democracy. The iconic image of Iran's post-election turmoil last year was Neda Agha-Soltan, a student shot dead by a Basij militiaman during a demonstration.
Most of the arrested lawyers are accused of "acting against national security". But the hardline head of Iran's judiciary, Sadegh Larijani, hinted at the real reason for the detentions when he warned lawyers recently about criticising Iran's judicial system and giving interviews to foreign media. The Iranian regime is acutely sensitive to criticism of its human rights record.
When a United Nations' General Assembly resolution accused Iran on Thursday of "serious ongoing" human rights violations - including torture, flogging, amputations and stoning, and what it called "pervasive gender inequality and violence against women" - Iran insisted it was a move "masterminded" by the United States.
Nevertheless, on Friday, Iran invited the UN human rights chief, Navi Pillay, to visit next year. UN human rights monitors have been denied direct access to Iran since 2005.
The lawyers arrested recently represent a dwindling core of courageous attorneys willing to take on sensitive cases. No case has attracted more unwelcome attention for the regime than that of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, an illiterate mother of two sentenced to death by stoning for alleged adultery. Her plight, which has caused an international uproar, is under review by Iran's supreme court.
One of Ashtiani's lawyers, Mohammad Mostafaei, fled to Norway this summer; another, Javid Houtan Kian, has been detained. Ashtiani's last lawyer, Sara Sabaghian, was arrested on November 12.
She was among five attorneys, four of them women, detained at Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport as they returned from a trip to Turkey. They were accused of "security-related offences and violating the Islamic republic's moral standards outside Iran". Two of the women were freed on Friday.
Like the two still in custody, Ms Sabaghian and Marymam Kianersi, they had signed an open letter in September calling for Ms Sotoudeh's release.
And Ms Sabaghian had represented Hossein Ronaghi-Maleki, a blogger who is serving a 15-year jail term. Ms Kianersi, meanwhile, helped defend Kobra Najjar, a woman who was sentenced to death by stoning for alleged adultery two years ago: her sentence was changed to 100 lashes in January 2009.
Hadi Ghaemi, the New York-based co-ordinator for the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, said: "How can there be any semblance of due process for defendants when their lawyer can end up in jail for years simply for doing his job?"
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
UAE players with central contracts
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
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Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
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A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
Sustainable Development Goals
1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its effects
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development
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MATCH INFO
Barcelona 4 (Messi 23' pen, 45 1', 48', Busquets 85')
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If you go
- The nearest international airport to the start of the Chuysky Trakt is in Novosibirsk. Emirates (www.emirates.com) offer codeshare flights with S7 Airlines (www.s7.ru) via Moscow for US$5,300 (Dh19,467) return including taxes. Cheaper flights are available on Flydubai and Air Astana or Aeroflot combination, flying via Astana in Kazakhstan or Moscow. Economy class tickets are available for US$650 (Dh2,400).
- The Double Tree by Hilton in Novosibirsk ( 7 383 2230100,) has double rooms from US$60 (Dh220). You can rent cabins at camp grounds or rooms in guesthouses in the towns for around US$25 (Dh90).
- The transport Minibuses run along the Chuysky Trakt but if you want to stop for sightseeing, hire a taxi from Gorno-Altaisk for about US$100 (Dh360) a day. Take a Russian phrasebook or download a translation app. Tour companies such as Altair-Tour ( 7 383 2125115 ) offer hiking and adventure packages.
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Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Five stars
