FP:
A man walked up to Sotoudeh, explaining that he had come all the way from the remote province of Sistan and Baluchistan to meet her. He wanted to share information about a non-governmental organization he had set up in his home region, and told her proudly about how his group had recently succeeded in preventing the destruction of some slums after negotiating with local officials. She thanked him for his work.
A little while later, two men came by to ask for legal advice. Sotoudeh was happy to oblige, and the two thanked her profusely. They stood for a while with her as a sign of support — even though they admitted fearing official repercussions. At least four lawyers who have joined her protest in recent weeks have received threatening phone calls from security officials warning that they could also receive professional bans. Even so, those weren’t the only visitors Sotoudeh received in the course of the morning. Several women’s rights advocates and other activists stopped by. A few passersby greeted Sotoudeh from afar, smiling and flashing victory signs. A man brought her bottles of water.
Among those who have expressed public support for Sotoudeh in recent weeks are Sufis, members of the persecuted Bahai religious sect, and supporters of a jailed spiritual healer. She has been visited by relatives of political prisoners (including the wife of her jailed colleague Abdolfattah Soltani) and by Faezeh Hashemi, daughter of Iran’s ex-President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who shared a prison cell with Sotoudeh for a few months. Sotoudeh has also met with parents whose children were killed or jailed in the 2009 crackdown that followed the disputed reelection of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Sotoudeh has her own vivid memories of that year.
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