The arbitrary arrest and jailing of Nasrin Sotoudeh, a leading Iranian human rights lawyer, is a crude act of state aggression against a courageous individual, and another heavy blow to the rule of law in Iran. It comes amid an intensifying judicial crackdown on dissent, in particular on women protesters who refuse to wear the hijab in public. This, in turn, forms part of a wider, epic struggle for Iran’s democratic future.

Sotoudeh has a long, proud record of challenging Iran’s powerful clerical establishment – but always within the legal framework of the post-1979 constitution. Her defence of political dissidents, juvenile offenders on death row, and the Nobel peace prize-winner, Shirin Ebadi, brought fame and persecution.

In 2010 Sotoudeh was detained in Tehran’s Evin prison, accused of “acting against national security” and “spreading propaganda”. She endured harsh and lengthy interrogations and, despite the obvious bias of her accusers in Iran’s intelligence ministry, was sentenced to 11 years behind bars. She was released in 2013 after an apparent intervention by Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s newly elected, politically moderate president and an international campaign waged on her behalf. In 2012, she had been awarded the European parliament’s Sakharov prize. Now she has been targeted again as Iran’s political climate deteriorates.

Sotoudeh’s arrest at her Tehran home on Wednesday follows her latest confrontation with Iran’s judiciary over attempts to limit a defendant’s access to a lawyer in security-related cases. Only a handful of lawyers will be allowed in future to take on cases involving activists and dissidents, and they must first be state-approved.

Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh arrested Read more

The judiciary’s move is illegal. Iran’s constitution sets no limits or conditions on the right to legal counsel. Article 35 states: “Both parties to a lawsuit have the right in all courts of law to select an attorney”. But Sadegh Larijani, head of the judiciary, says the new restrictions are in the public interest. Sotoudeh’s reaction was withering. “In the past, political suspects had a limited right to defend themselves and lawyers could take up their cases and carry out their professional duties, despite all the dangers they faced. But now, even that limited right is being completely eliminated,” she said earlier this month.

After refusing a court summons in November, she insisted she was exercising her freedom of expression “within the boundaries of the law”. She added: “It really doesn’t matter what I am accused of. I know I will not be treated fairly by the judiciary.” Amid reports that Sotoudeh has already been sentenced without trial to five years, international condemnation has been swift. “The Iranian judiciary should cease its cowardly and unlawful actions of jailing and harassing human rights lawyers,” said Hadi Ghaemi of the independent, US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran. Amnesty International called Sotoudeh’s arrest an outrage.

Sotoudeh has also been leading the defence of women threatened with draconian punishments for defying customary rules governing the wearing of the hijab in public. Since December 2017, dozens of women have been violently attacked and arrested for peacefully protesting against “compulsory veiling”.

Since Vida Movahed removed her white headscarf and waved it like a flag during a demonstration in Tehran, what Sotoudeh calls a “national movement” has gathered pace, spearheaded by the “Girls of Revolution Street” campaigners and online groups such as My Stealthy Freedom.

Sotoudeh represents Narges Hosseini, a protester charged with “encouraging immorality or prostitution” by removing her scarf. She faces up to 10 years in jail and 74 lashes. “Ms Hosseini objects to the forced hijab and considers it her legal right to express her protest,” Sotoudeh said in February. “She is not prepared to say she is sorry.”

The crackdown on dissent follows demonstrations across Iran in December that were sparked by economic woes but quickly became anti-regime in nature. It also comes in the context of a losing battle by European countries to maintain lines of communication with Rouhani after Donald Trump reneged on the 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran, reimposed swingeing sanctions, and implied support for forcible regime change.

Trump argued his action would force Iran to change its behaviour for the better. Instead, conservative hardliners appear to be extending their grip on Iranian society as part of a renewed bid to undermine the moderate forces around Rouhani. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian citizen held since 2016, is another innocent victim of this struggle.

After her release from jail, Sotoudeh, who is married with two children, told me in Tehran in 2014 about her incarceration and the solitary horrors she was forced to endure. But she never wavered in her belief that her career of defiance was both morally and legally justified. Sotoudeh said she felt guilty about being freed. “I have a very bad feeling about the other women prisoners that I left behind,” she said. Now, sadly, she has rejoined them.

• Simon Tisdall is a foreign affairs commentator