Ian Bunn | Political & Popular Culture Arts

Nasrin Sotoudeh the 49 year old Iranian human rights lawyer imprisoned for six years in solitary confinement has won the European Union’s prize for human rights and freedom of thought, the Sakharov Prize. Renowned for representing imprisoned Iranian opposition activists and politicians following the disputed June 2009 Iranian presidential elections, as well as prisoners sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were minors, had been imprisoned herself on charges of spreading propaganda and conspiring to harm state security. An Aljazeera articles states “…cut off from the outside world for defying the country’s leadership. Nasrin Sotoudeh, an imprisoned human rights lawyer, and Jafar Panahi, the filmmaker, were awarded the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for their courage in defending their own and others’ basic freedoms, the parliament said. Named in honour of Soviet scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, the prize has been awarded by the European Parliament annually since 1988. “The award … is a message of solidarity and recognition to a woman and a man who have not been bowed by fear and intimidation and who have decided to put the fate of their country before their own,” Martin Schulz, European Parliament president, said as he announced the winners. …”I know that you require water, food, housing, a family, parents, love, and visits with your mother,” Sotoudeh began in a letter written from prison to her children, who were prevented from seeing her after she refused to wear a chador, a full length traditional garment. “However, just as much, you need freedom, social security, the rule of law, and justice.”

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I thought we would be safe in the UK (September 20th)

Lydia Besong the Cameroon playwright has received support from several actors and writers in a campaign to stop the planned deportation of both her and her husband Bernard Bately from the UK by the Border Agency. The UK writer’s group ‘English Pen’ has come out in support of Besong who has written three plays since her arrival to the UK in 2006, one of which is titled ‘How I became an asylum seeker’. Besong is claiming asylum following her rape while imprisoned in her home country before travelling to the UK. Amnesty International have confirmed that President Paul Biya’s regime persecutes the SCNC, a pressure group which campaigns for southern Cameroon’s independence. Besong was a member of the SCNC in Cameroon, and had been targeted for persecution, believing their lives are in danger upon returning.

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Sandra Ávila Beltrán the 50 year old Mexican drug cartel leader, dubbed “The Queen of the Pacific” who has been imprisoned at the Santa Martha Acatitla women’s prison in Mexico since 2007 on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to traffic drugs has undertaken a Botox procedure while in prison. The prison’s warden and medical director have consequently had their employment terminated as a result of the unauthorized procedure. Beltrán had previously filed a complaint with the Mexico City human rights commission, referring to noxious fauna (insects) in her cell, and that a ban on allowing food from restaurants to be brought to the prison violated her human rights.

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