When it is a matter of principle, the righteous stand their ground no matter what is done to them. Then, the lower the adversary goes to break you, makes you even more morally superior.

Lady Nasrin Sotoudeh is a human rights lawyer in Iran. Because of her dogged defense of her clients, she has been imprisoned for many years, among other restriction, banned from her legal profession, and yet, she has not stopped her advocacy of human rights in Iran.

To break their stubborn opponents, it is a practice of the Islamist fascists –“reformers” and all- to apply pressure on the loved ones of the targeted Iranian. In Lady Sotoudeh’s case it is her underage children.

Because of her mother’s human rights activities, Mehraveh, now nearly seventeen has had a travel ban put on her since she was 11 years old.

The other day, to see if her travel ban has been lifted, Mehraveh went to the passport office with her father Reza Khandan. Here is what Reza has written about the experience:

“We went there to find out about the status of her passport, they told us the file indicates “interview”. I had no doubt it is not an interview and is interrogation by the Ministry of intelligence agents based at the passport-office.

Although Mehraveh and I were not fully in agreement with it, Nasrin suggested if it is routine questions by the passport-office officers, we should do it to resolve the issue.

However, as we had predicted, the passport-office said the interview has to be done at the office designated for the Ministry of Intelligence, which due to their fear, the passport-office managers referred to it as “the office of the Presidency” instead of the “office of the Ministry of Intelligence.”

Needless to say, Nasrin and her husband’s principle prohibited subjecting their teenage daughter to intelligence Ministry interrogation.

Sanction works, U.S. Senate, get to it.

Picture above; Lady Nasrin Sotoudeh and her daughter who is banned from travel.