One of Iran’s most prominent human rights lawyers has been arrested after criticising the country’s judiciary, according to her family.

Nasrin Sotoudeh, 55, has been a well-known defender of Iranian dissidents, including some of the young women arrested recently for refusing to wear the hijab.

Her husband, Reza Khandan, said in Facebook post on Wednesday that police arrested her at home and took her to Tehran’s Evin prison. "Of all the functions that governments of the world are expected to do, the Iranian one is only good in arresting and imprisoning innocent people,” he wrote.

No official charges were announced but the arrest came shortly after Ms Sotoudeh spoke out against efforts by Iran’s judiciary to force its own candidates onto the board of Iranian Bar Association.

Ms Sotoudeh said the move would make it even more difficult for Iranian lawyers to defend dissidents.