大象传媒

Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was imprisoned for three years and then banned from doing her job, tells us why she is continuing her fight to work. Her husband Reza Khandan describes the impact of her imprisonment on their family.

The American artist Chuck Close has produced some of the most instantly recognisable work in contemporary art. His giant portraits are often three metres high. But in 1988, Chuck had a seizure which left him paralyzed from the neck down - and, as he explains - he had to learn how to paint again in a very different way.

Nazia Parveen has made history by becoming the first Pakistani woman to compete in international rock climbing contests. She tells us how she only took up climbing four years ago.

Ninety-five-year-old Polan Sarkar has spent his life trying to get illiterate villagers in Bangladesh to read books. Growing up in an illiterate family himself, he used his earnings to buy books for the poor. He now has a library named after him and has won awards for his work. He tells reporter Candida Beveridge why he still walks many miles a day handing out books to people living near his home in Bausa.

(Photo: Nasrin Sotoudeh (2nd left) with her husband Reza Khandan, son Nima and daughter Mehraveh, courtesy of the Sotoudeh family)