Reuters:
France told Iran on Thursday that European efforts to keep a nuclear deal alive did not mean Tehran had a blank check to violate the human rights of its citizens, after lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh received a long prison sentence.
An internationally renowned human rights lawyer jailed in Iran, Sotoudeh was handed a new sentence on Monday that her husband said was 38 years in prison and 148 lashes.
"There has been global indignation over the case of Mrs Sotoudeh and this government shares this indignation fully," French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves le Drian told lawmakers.
Sotoudeh has represented opposition activists including women prosecuted for removing their mandatory head scarf. She was arrested in June and charged with spying, spreading propaganda and insulting Iran's clerical supreme leader.
"We have made considerable efforts with Iran to keep the nuclear accord (signed by Tehran and world powers) despite the American withdrawal," Le Drian said. "(But) our effort to keep the Vienna accord is not a blank check for Iran and certainly not with regard to human rights, and that's why France will do everything to secure Mrs Sotoudeh's freedom."
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