DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The organization PEN America has expressed strong disapproval regarding the arrest of Reza Khandan, an Iranian activist and spouse of the prominent human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh. They are calling for his immediate release.

Karin Deutsch Karlekar, who leads the Writers at Risk division of the organization, commented on the matter, stating, “We are dismayed by Reza Khandan’s arrest and implore Iranian authorities to release him without delay.”

According to Shagh Daily, a pro-reform media outlet, lawyer Mahmoud Behzadi Rad revealed that Khandan was previously sentenced in 2019 for allegedly engaging in “propaganda against the system” and “collusion against national security.” He was taken into custody on Friday to enforce this sentencing.

PEN America noted that Khandan received a six-year prison sentence due to his involvement in creating and disseminating buttons that protested against Iran’s mandatory hijab laws in January 2019. Although he was summoned to prison in February of 2023, that order was not immediately acted upon.

Nasrin Sotoudeh, Khandan’s wife, is highly respected for her defense of activists, opposition figures, and women who have faced prosecution for choosing to remove their headscarves. In March 2019, she was handed down a staggering sentence of 38 years and 148 lashes for various charges. However, she has been on bail since 2023.

According to the latest Freedom To Write Index released by PEN America in 2023, at least 49 Iranian writers were apprehended for their literary activities last year. This statistic places Iran as the second-largest jailer of writers globally, following China, and highlights Iran’s status as the leading country for incarcerating female writers.