{"id":36289,"date":"2021-02-12T03:37:23","date_gmt":"2021-02-12T11:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=36289"},"modified":"2021-02-11T11:04:05","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T19:04:05","slug":"human-rights-above-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2021\/02\/12\/human-rights-above-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Human rights above all"},"content":{"rendered":"

A poster in Marseille, France, in July 2020, calling for Nasrin Sotoudeh\u2019s release from prison.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The National Council of Jewish Women of Canada spotlighted the remarkable story of Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh during a showing of the eponymously titled film, Nasrin<\/em>, on Jan. 10.<\/p>\n

Narrated by actress Olivia Colman, the film takes us into Sotoudeh\u2019s life in Tehran, where she has been a stalwart in defending a wide array of people: political activists, women who refused to wear a hijab, members of the religiously oppressed Baha\u2019i faith, and prisoners sentenced to the death penalty for crimes allegedly committed while they were minors. Her work has come with a tremendous amount of personal sacrifice, including prolonged periods in jail.<\/p>\n

Among the notable cases brought up in the film is that of Narges Hosseini, who, in 2018, stood on an electricity box on Tehran\u2019s Revolution Street and removed her headscarf to protest Iran\u2019s mandatory hijab law. She was immediately arrested, and Sotoudeh soon took up her cause. At her trial, the prosecutor claimed she was trying to \u201cencourage corruption through the removal of the hijab in public.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi is another of Sotoudeh\u2019s clients. In 2010, Panahi was given a 20-year ban on making films, but he has nonetheless continued to create widely praised cinematic works, such as Taxi<\/em>, in which he played a Tehran taxi driver \u2013 Sotoudeh was one of his passengers. The movie won the top prize at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival in 2015. Together with Sotoudeh, Panahi was co-winner of the European Parliament\u2019s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2012.<\/p>\n

And there is the unassuming hero we encounter in Sotoudeh\u2019s husband, Reza Khandan. His unflagging loyalty to his wife and family is underscored throughout the film. He, too, has been imprisoned several times, most recently from September to December 2018, after he wrote about human rights violations in Iran on Facebook. He was accused of operating against Iran\u2019s national security by backing the \u201canti-hijab\u201d movement. Khandan currently faces a six-year prison sentence.<\/p>\n

The film relies on secret footage, made possible by intrepid camerapeople within Iran who took on incredible risk to record Sotoudeh in both her professional and private lives. In the midst of filming, in June 2018, Sotoudeh was arrested for representing several women protesting Iran\u2019s mandatory hijab law. Due to health concerns, she was briefly released from prison late last year, but has since been incarcerated again.<\/p>\n

During Sotoudeh\u2019s furlough, she was scheduled to undergo tests to monitor her heart. At one time, she was moved to intensive care in a Tehran hospital after a 46-day hunger strike, protesting the conditions political prisoners in Iran have to endure. She also has pressed for their release during the time of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Shortly before her own release from the Qarchak women\u2019s prison, Sotoudeh contracted COVID-19 but has since recovered.<\/p>\n

Following the film\u2019s presentation, a panel discussion took place with the film\u2019s director, Jeff Kaufman; its producer, Marcia Ross; activist Shaparak Shajarizadeh; and former Canadian minister of justice Irwin Cotler. The discussion was led by NCJWC president Debbie Wasserman.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the intents of the film is to say it is not just about Sotoudeh and Iran, it is about applying her standards to our countries and ourselves. Let\u2019s take her example and make it global,\u201d said Kaufman.<\/p>\n

The filmmakers said they wanted to tell Sotoudeh\u2019s story because she personifies a commitment to democracy and justice, and represents the power of women to shape society. Further, Sotoudeh holds a deep conviction that people of all faiths and backgrounds deserve equal opportunity and protection.<\/p>\n

Both Kaufman and Ross spoke of the extraordinary caution taken to preserve the anonymity and security of those shooting the footage in Iran.<\/p>\n

Asked about her reaction upon seeing the screening, Shajarizadeh said, \u201cI cried the whole time. We could see ourselves in every minute of the movement.\u201d Shajarizadeh, who now resides in Canada, was a women\u2019s rights activist and political prisoner in Iran \u2013 she fought against the country\u2019s mandatory hijab law for women.<\/p>\n

\u201cNasrin is not only the embodiment of human rights in Iran, but a looking-glass into the persecution of all those who are imprisoned in Iran,\u201d Cotler said.<\/p>\n

Cotler advocated for \u201cshowing the film as much as we can, and [to] have the sort of conversations we are having now, and mobilize the different constituencies that she has been helping.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ross said the film will be out later in the year on Amazon and iTunes.<\/p>\n

Established in 1897, NCJWC is a voluntary organization dedicated to furthering human welfare in the Jewish and general communities locally, nationally and internationally. To learn more, visit ncjwc.org.<\/p>\n

Sam Margolis<\/strong>\u00a0has written for the\u00a0<\/em>Globe and Mail, the\u00a0<\/em>National Post, UPI and MSNBC.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A poster in Marseille, France, in July 2020, calling for Nasrin Sotoudeh\u2019s release from prison. The National Council of Jewish Women of Canada spotlighted the remarkable story of Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh during a showing of the eponymously titled film, Nasrin, on Jan. 10. Narrated by actress Olivia Colman, the film […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[6299,20286,1122,2462,689,20284,5371,2251,20283,7963,9305,1667,3597,20285],"class_list":["post-36289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-activism","tag-debbie-wasserman","tag-human-rights","tag-iran","tag-irwin-cotler","tag-jeff-kaufman","tag-justice","tag-law","tag-marcia-ross","tag-movies","tag-nasrin-sotoudeh","tag-ncjw","tag-politics","tag-shaparak-shajarizadeh"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}