The husband of human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, Khandan has campaigned against compulsory veiling and the death penalty in Iran and publicly advocated for his wife when she was imprisoned between 2018 and 2021.
In 2019, Khandan was charged in absentia with breaching national security and distributing anti-state propaganda, and was recalled to prison to carry out his sentence in 2024.
Khandan publicly supported women's right to choose whether or not to veil, and stated he was against the forced imposition of any religion or belief by the Iranian government.
[4] Sotoudeh was arrested in 2018 and charged with espionage, the dissemination of propaganda, and disparaging Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran.
[2][6] Khandan also publicly supported other jailed human rights activists, including Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who was held at Qarchak Prison at the same time as Sotoudeh.
[8] In September 2018, Khandan was arrested and charged with "spreading propaganda against the system" and "colluding to commit crimes against national security" after posting updates about Sotoudeh's case on social media, in addition to speaking out against mandatory veiling for Iranian women and had also started a petition calling for the immediate commutation of the death sentence issued to Kurdish activist Pakhshan Azizi.