Washington, D.C., April 29, 2025 – The Feminist Majority Foundation, PEN America, Right Livelihood, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and more than 1,600 activists from around the world are raising their voices to protest the ongoing arbitrary detention of Iranian human rights defender Reza Khandan and demand his immediate and unconditional release.

Reza Khandan, a prominent human rights advocate, and his wife, the renowned human rights lawyer and women’s rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh, have long been targeted by Iranian authorities. Khandan has faced repeated arrests and harassment for standing up against discriminatory laws and defending the rights of political prisoners, women, and civil society actors in Iran. He has been arbitrarily detained in the notoriously overcrowded and unsanitary Evin Prison in Tehran since December 13, 2024.

Khandan’s continued detention has sparked an international outcry, culminating in a petition written by Jeff Kaufman that has now garnered hundreds of signatures from individuals in 52 countries. Notable human rights defenders, lawyers, writers, academics, and former political prisoner signatories include:

• Margaret Atwood – two-time Booker Prize winning author (“The Handmaid’s Tale”), and recipient of the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award
• Joan Baez – singer-songwriter, recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Grammy and Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award
• Amy Brenneman – Emmy-nominated actress and producer
• Joan Carling – Filipino human rights activist and environmentalist, Right Livelihood Laureate 
• Ariel Dorfman – Laurence Olivier Award-winning playwright and author
• Anwar Fazal – former president of the International Organization of Consumers Unions, Right Livelihood laureate
• Chico Ferreira – Brazilian architect, politician, and social activist, Right Livelihood laureate
• Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty – Tony Award winning lyricist and composer (“Ragtime,” “Once on this Island”) 
• Stephen Adly Guirgis – Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (“Between Riverside and Crazy”)
• Dolores Huerta – labor leader and women’s rights activist, winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom
• Maz Jobrani – comedian and actor
• Kerry Kennedy – president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
• Nicholas Kristof – Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist
• Viviana Krsticevic – Executive Director of the Center for Justice and International Law, and Member of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran
• Anabela Lemos – Mozambican environmental activist and Director of Justiça Ambiental!, Right Livelihood Laureate 
• Oleksandra Matviichuk – Right Livelihood Laureate and recipient of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize 
• Dr. Farhad Meysami – Iranian human rights activist, arrested with Reza in 2018, released in 2023
• Raúl Montenegro – Argentine biologist, founder of the Environment Defense Foundation, Right Livelihood laureate
• Jacqueline Moudeina – Chadian lawyer and human rights activist, Right Livelihood laureate
• Azar Nafisi – best-selling author of “Reading Lolita in Tehran,” and “The Republic of Imagination”
• Manfred Nowak – former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and Secretary-General at the Global Campus of Human Rights
• Jafar Panâhi – Iranian filmmaker, winner of the Prix de la Camera d’Or and the Prix du Jury (Cannes Film Festival), the Golden Lion (Venice International Film Festival), and The European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought
• Billy Ray – Academy Award-nominated writer and film director
• Javaid Rehman – former Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran
• Jason Rezaian – Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medalist in Citizen Leadership award-winning Washington Post columnist
• Tony Rinaudo – Australian agronomist, Right Livelihood laureate
• Sima Samar – Nobel Peace Prize nominated human rights activist and former Minister for Women’s Affair of Afghanistan, Right Livelihood Laureate 
• Natallia Satsunkevich – The Viasna Human Rights Centre, Right Livelihood laureate
• Nasrin Sotoudeh – Reza’s wife, human rights attorney, Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought recipient, and Right Livelihood laureate 
• Gloria Steinem – Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, journalist, women’s rights activist, co-founder of Ms. Magazine
• Michael Succow – environmental activist, Right Livelihood laureate
• Rainn Wilson – Emmy nominated actor and producer

The FREE REZA KHANDAN petition, which has been circulated online and through advocacy networks, demands Khandan’s immediate release and denounces the Iranian government’s pattern of silencing dissent through intimidation and incarceration.

“Reza Khandan has been unjustly imprisoned for his nonviolent advocacy for women’s and civil rights in Iran. Oppressive regimes across the world are attempting to claw back the progress women have made over the last several decades, including those who have fearlessly fought for their rights in Iran—and won. The world is watching. We must not stay silent. I join Reza Khandan’s wife and renowned human rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh in calling on the global community to demand his release. Join us in taking action now by signing the petition and standing up for justice,” said Kathy Spillar, executive director of the Feminist Majority Foundation and executive editor of Ms. 

“PEN America is appalled at the arrest of Reza Khandan, and we urge Iranian authorities to release him immediately. For two decades, Reza has been a steadfast advocate for women’s rights and a vital source of support for his wife Nasrin Sotoudeh, who PEN honored with our 2011 Freedom to Write Award. We decry the cruel and petty retaliatory measures the Iranian authorities use to threaten or silence those who use their words or actions to oppose further draconian restrictions on women’s rights,” noted Karin Deutsch Karlekar, Director of Writers at Risk at PEN America

“Reza Khandan was jailed for speaking out against forced hijab laws and standing by his wife, 2020 Right Livelihood Laureate Nasrin Sotoudeh. He is being punished for defending basic rights and freedoms. Speaking out is not a crime. We join Nasrin in urging the global community to demand Reza’s release,” added Ole von Uexkuell, Executive Director, Right Livelihood. 

Reza Khandan is being unjustly imprisoned for his courageous allyship and support of Iranian women, including his wife, renowned human rights advocate Nasrin Sotoudeh, who continues to face abuse and mistreatment by the Iranian government. We must do everything we can to keep a bright, shining light on this egregious injustice and demand Reza’s release NOW,” said Kerry Kennedy, President, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.

“Reza has always been a firm believer in full rights for women, and for people of all faiths and backgrounds. He is also a wonderful father and husband. Now he is unlawfully held in prison for expressing his support for women’s rights. I hope everyone reading this will add their name to the FREE REZA petition and demand the release of all political prisoners. Your support gives Reza strength and hope, which he shares with other inmates. Thank you,” wrote Nasrin Sotoudeh

In his letter sent from Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison in January, Khandan poignantly conveyed the pain of his plight with these words: “In prison, the big problem for an inmate is usually the very slow passage of time, but for me, it has always been the opposite. I do not like time to pass faster because I think that these days and weeks that are passing are our share of life that is being destroyed – the time I should be sharing with my wife, children, and all those I love.”

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Media contacts:

Feminist Majority Foundation: 
PEN America: Karin Karlekar, kdkarlekar@pen.org 
Right Livelihood: Temis Tormo, temis.tormo@rightlivelihood.org 
RFK Human Rights: Amy Zelvin Reid, reid@rfkhumanrights.org
Jeff Kaufman, jeff.floating@gmail.com