27 September 2020 :
Hands Off Cain welcomes with satisfaction the interruption of the hunger strike of the Iranian lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, started to gain thresholds of freedom and democracy for all, but interrupted so as not to use the body as a weapon to be hurled against the opponent. Convinced that the hunger strike is an instrument of nonviolent struggle and dialogue, lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has obtained with her nonviolent initiative the lighting of a beacon on the situation of prisons in Iran and on the conditions of political prisoners.
The interruption of the hunger strike is the right answer to all the international voices that have offered it support to her cause. Aware that Nasrin Sotoudeh's health conditions have worsened over time and that they have become incompatible with detention, we ask for her immediate release, together with that of the human rights defenders, who like her are in prison for having expressed their dissent.
For all of them we ask that the right of defense, that of due process and the right of expression of thought be recognized. We appeal in particular to the Italian government and to Minister Di Maio to work to obtain the release of Nasrin Sotoudeh as well as other lawyers and human rights defenders in Iran, who like her are still detained. We also ask for fundamental human rights to be placed as the first point of any dialogue, bilateral or multilateral, with Iran and to work towards an international monitoring mission in Iranian prisons.