Sir, – Sheila Geraghty's plaintive cry for support for Nasrin Sotoudeh, who has been jailed in Iran for defending women's rights, is timely (Letters, March 20th). Certainly it is a better option to write to newspapers seeking public support than involving bodies like the UN Women's Rights Committee, which has just granted a seat to a representative of the Iranian government. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN McMAHON,
Naas,
Co Kildare.
Sir, – I plan to join Sheila Geraghty’s next protest outside the Iranian embassy in Dublin in support of Nasrin Sotoudeh, the lawyer sentenced to 38 years in jail and 148 lashes for defending women who refuse to wear the hijab.
However, I’d be surprised to see Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, the Rev Des Sinnamon, Sheikh Umar al-Qadri and TDs Clare Daly, Mick Wallace and Maureen O’Sullivan protesting there.
These five worthies all attended the recent celebration of the 40th anniversary of Iran's revolution (News, February 11th).
Iran continues to abuse the rights of women and religious, gay and ethnic minorities on a vast scale.
Young female artists are singled out for particularly bad treatment. For example, in 2016 the young writer Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee was violently arrested for writing an unpublished story about the stoning of women in Iran. Convicted of “insulting Islamic sanctities”, she was sentenced to six years in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison.
It’s time we stood in solidarity with Nasrin Sotoudeh and the other oppressed women of Iran. – Yours, etc,
KARL MARTIN,
Bayside,
Dublin 13.
Sir, – The day after Iran jailed a leading women’s rights lawyer, Nasrin Sotudeh, to 38 years in prison and 148 lashes, the UN elected Iran to its Women’s Rights Committee which, among other things, judges complaints of women’s rights violations.
Shame on Ireland, which chairs that committee, for facilitating this decision.
Another day of profound ignominy at the UN. – Yours, etc,
STEPHEN SPENCER ,
London.