In the forward thinking utopia of Iran, the Government is breathing a sigh of relief as the prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been imprisoned for 11 years, banned from practicing law for 20 years and from leaving the country.
Her crime?
Well…nothing, other than doing her job in defending those arrested and jailed after they suggested that the elections of June 2009 might have been rigged.
However, she was found guilty of acting against national security, propaganda against the regime and for being a member of Human Rights Defender’s Centre.
It is reassuring to see that such a strong democracy and popular government can be so threatened by a lawyer.
But what about the judiciary. Those pusillanimous judges that are prepared to forego their conscience to uphold laws that are the political whim of despots holding on to power at any and all costs are as much to blame as the regime.
.
The judges of Nazi Germany were held to account for allowing their courts to become tools of oppression.
Unfortunately, methinks no matter the future of this particular regime, the judiciary will probably never be judged.
