Nasrin Sotoudeh is a human rights lawyer in Iran. Nasrin Sotoudeh was born in 1963 in a "religious, middle-class" Iranian family. She had hoped to study philosophy in college and ranked 53rd in the Iranian national university entrance exam but lacked high enough marks to get a place and ended up studying law at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran. After completing her degree in international law from the university, Sotoudeh took and passed the bar exam successfully in 1995 but had to wait another eight years to be given her permit to practice law. Sotoudeh is married to Reza Khandan. They have two children together. Sotoudeh has emphasized that Reza is "truly a modern man," standing beside her and her work during her struggles.