Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer and human rights activist, stands in front of Tehran's Evin Prison, where her husband is being held, with a photo of him. Photo by Barbad Behravan

By Jeff Kaufman
Kaufman is a documentary filmmaker and playwright

TIME

Reza Khandan was arrested in December 2024 for supporting women’s rights in Iran, and creating thousands of homemade buttons that said, “I Oppose the Mandatory Hijab.” He had previously been imprisoned for 111 days in 2018 for this so-called crime before being released on bail.

Reza’s wife, Nasrin Sotoudeh, spent over six years in Iranian prisons for her work as a human rights attorney and activist. Reza raised their daughter and son while maintaining his graphic design business, and defying government threats as he campaigned for Nasrin’s freedom. Now, Nasrin is home on a medical furlough for a heart condition that was exacerbated by COVID-19 and mistreatment in prison, and Reza is facing at least three more years in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.

I got to know these good people when I directed and produced Nasrin, a 2020 documentary about her life and work. She was in prison most of the time we were filming, and I saw Reza’s character— and love—repeatedly tested by a regime that punishes families as a way of inflicting additional pain on its detainees.

This interview started in April when I sent a series of questions to Reza. Slowly and with some complicated back and forth, he passed his answers to me.

Why have you put yourself at risk (in and out of prison) by criticizing your government—and is it dangerous for you to do this interview? I have a duty and the privilege to defend my rights and the rights of others. Without that, there is a dark future for us and our children. In a country like Iran, with this government, every protest and criticism carries a risk, but that’s a chance I’m willing to take.

You are a man, with all the privileges that brings in virtually every country. Why do you so strongly support women’s rights? No country can achieve democracy, and development with justice and human dignity, without guaranteeing equal rights for women and men. A society that ignores the rights of half of its population will never achieve real greatness.

Describe your December 2024 arrest. That morning, I’d gone to the store so I could do some work at the house. On my way back, I noticed several people standing by the entrance talking to the building manager. As soon as I got out of the car, they came towards me, pointed at my license plate, and said they were investigating a crime that had been committed with my car.

It quickly became clear that all of their words were lies, and their real intent was to arrest me for my judicial case. After a minute or so, Nasrin joined us. She asked if she could get our son Nima from upstairs so he and I could have a moment together before they took me away. They said yes, but when she left to get him, they forced me into their car and drove off. I never got a chance to say goodbye to my son.

I slept in the detention center that night. It was extremely cold. They intentionally turned off the radiator, and there was no other heating device. The detainees were not given food or water. The cells had no beds and there were only a few dirty blankets to somehow be shared by about a dozen people. The Guardian Officer responded to my protests with dirt and ridicule. The filthy bathroom had no soap. They weren’t even willing to even let me buy soap with my own money.
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The next morning, I was transferred to the prosecutor in Evin Prison’s court. After hours of being interviewed and processed, I was transferred to a prison quarantine, where I stayed for nine days without any outside contact.

What is your typical day like in prison? Part of my day is spent cleaning and doing personal chores like buying supplies that are available in the prison store. Food in Iranian prisons is rarely edible, so we have to purchase whatever ingredients we can and prepare our own meals. Ward 8, where I am held, has 33 gas burners for around 600 people. I am part of a group of about ten inmates who cook and eat together, and we are allowed to use a burner three times a week.

When possible, I read in the library, and I make sure to exercise. I also walk with friends, which gives us the opportunity to exchange opinions about the news we get through contact with our families. The big problem for an inmate is usually the very slow passage of time, but for me it is just the opposite. I don’t want my time here to pass faster because that means I am losing all the moments I should be sharing with my wife, my children, and others I love.

Describe Evin Prison and the ward you are in. Evin Prison houses about 15,000 inmates divided into different wards, and there is extreme overcrowding. The reason Evin is infamous is because of its terribly cruel high security detention centers that are poorly supervised by the Prison Chief. Each of these security areas is controlled by of one of the government’s security bodies, such as the Ministry of Information, the Revolutionary Guards, and the Judiciary >>>