[4] Her clients have included journalist Isa Saharkhiz, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, and Heshmat Tabarzadi.

[9] Sotoudeh was arrested in September 2010 on charges of spreading propaganda and conspiring to harm state security[4] and was imprisoned in solitary confinement in Evin Prison.

[13] Before her arrest, Sotoudeh represented activists and journalists such as Kourosh Zaim, Isa Saharkhiz, Heshmat Tabarzadi, Nahid Keshavarz, Parvin Ardalan, Omid Memarian, and Roya Tolouie, as well as child abuse and criminal cases.

Former Czech President Václav Havel and Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi, also called for Sotoudeh's release.

[4] The Washington Post described the arrest as "highlighting an intensifying crackdown on lawyers who defend influential opposition politicians, activists and journalists.

"[16] Amnesty International launched an urgent call for her release, designating her a prisoner of conscience and noting that she was "at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.

[27] European Parliament President Martin Schulz called the pair "a woman and a man who have not been bowed by fear and intimidation and who have decided to put the fate of their country before their own".

[27] Human rights defender and freelance journalist William Nicholas Gomes demanded Immediate and unconditional release of Sotoudeh in August 2018.

[29][30] Sotoudeh was released on 18 September 2013 along with ten other political prisoners, including opposition leader Mohsen Aminzadeh, days before an address by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to the United Nations.

[35][36] On 22 August 2018, 60 members of the European Parliament called on Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to forcefully work for Sotoudeh's "unconditional release.

"[37] On 6 March 2019, she was convicted in absentia, after refusing to attend the trial before Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Court because she was unable to select her counsel.

[39][40][6] On 28 July 2020, Khandan reported that Nasrin's bank accounts had been frozen on the orders of the Prosecutor's Office despite none of the charges against her being finance related.

Speaking to Iran Human Rights he said: "Arresting my daughter and freezing my bank accounts are evidence that punishments have become familial, and when they want to punish an individual, they may violate their civil rights and privacy and even have them fired, freeze their bank accounts, ban them from leaving the country, in other words, use every opportunity to put pressure on that individual or their family members.

[48][failed verification] On 11 August 2020, Nasrin went on hunger strike by publishing a letter demanding the release of political prisoners, it reads: "The appellate process, parole, suspending execution sentences and a new law intent on issuing minimum sentences were all promised, but the enforcement of all these legal rights are assigned to interrogators who apply them extrajudicially, closing the last door on political prisoners.

Hadi Ghaemi, the executive director, said that the charges, ranging from membership in a human rights group to "encouraging corruption and prostitution", suggest that her detention relates partly to her defense of women who had protested the mandatory hijab.

[38] Amnesty International has condemned her sentencing and stated motives for her conviction, including her backing of women who opposed the mandatory hijab laws.

[40] Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Research and Advocacy Director at Amnesty said; "Jailing a human rights defender for her peaceful activities is abhorrent but the fact that the judge in Nasrin Sotoudeh's case used his discretion to ensure that she stays locked up for more than is required under Iranian law compounds the outrageous injustice of her sentence".

Boniadi said that Sotoudeh should be lauded and nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and also spoke of the bad reputation of the prison, where people were regularly tortured.