Human rights activist Reza Khandan has been denied visits with his wife, prominent human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, for more than nine months because she refuses to wear the mandatory hijab during prison visits, political prisoners at Tehran’s Evin Prison said.
“We believe the decision by prison officials to deny him and his wife visitation on the pretext of hijab is a form of white torture against this prisoner and his family,” the inmates said in a joint letter signed by 12 detainees.
Khandan, who is serving a three-and-a-half-year sentence for opposing Iran’s compulsory hijab law, began a sit-in on September 30 to protest the visitation ban.
The inmates said prison officials continue to enforce hijab rules for visitors even as the government and other institutions have retreated from strict enforcement in public spaces.
They called the ban a violation of human rights and urged authorities to allow visits or grant Khandan temporary leave.
Last week, rights groups Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, PEN America, and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights filed a petition and urgent action request with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, calling Khandan’s detention unlawful and “life-threatening.”
The groups said Khandan, 60, has been arbitrarily detained since December 2024 in reprisal for his peaceful activism against Iran’s hijab laws and warned of dire prison conditions following Israeli airstrikes that damaged Evin Prison in June.
“Reza Khandan is being punished simply for his peaceful advocacy and his unwavering commitment to women’s rights in Iran,” said Kerry Kennedy, president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.
While Iranians continue to defy hijab rules, the Islamic Republic's judiciary said on Tuesday that the country’s hijab laws “remain in force” and that penalties will continue to be applied under the Islamic Penal Code.
