The Berlin International Film Festival and the European Film Academy call for the writer's immediate and unconditional release, human rights lawyer and activist

He is the last passenger in Jafar Panahi's film Taxi Teheran, winner of the Golden Bear 2015, where he speaks openly about his commitment to political prisoners and conquers the public with his energetic and joyful manner. Together with director Panahi, Nasrin Sotoudeh won the Sakharov Prize 2012 of the European Parliament. It is one of the most important voices of conscience in Iran and has long been targeted by the Iranian government.

Nasrin Sotoudeh was arrested in June 2018 with ambiguous charges related to her work as a lawyer and was sentenced to over 30 years in prison e 148 whiplash. She is currently being held in Tehran's infamous Evin prison, where a second hunger strike began on 11 August to protest the regime's refusal to release political prisoners during the pandemic. She is now in critical condition and must be released immediately to seek medical attention.

We call on the Iranian authorities to drop all charges against Sotoudeh and immediately release her from prison and medical treatment.

We also encourage all film and cultural institutions around the world to do the same and ask everyone to sign PEN's petition for the release of Nasrin Sotoudeh on https://pen.org/sign-now-iran-must-release-nasrin-sotoudeh /