New Case File; Nilofar Bayani Summoned to Prosecutor’s Office and Charged

Nilofar Bayani, one of the defendants in the environmental activists case who is imprisoned in Evin Prison, was summoned to the prosecutor’s office and charged in connection with a new case file. This case was opened following Nilofar Bayani’s publication of an open letter. In the letter, it was stated that IRGC intelligence interrogators subjected her to “at least 1,200 hours of interrogation” and “the most severe psychological and mental torture, threats of physical torture and sexual threats” in order to obtain forced confessions. Hrana News Agency was the first to report on sexual harassment, torture and threats against some defendants in this case, including Nilofar Bayani, in order to obtain forced confessions.

According to Hrana News Agency, citing Emtedad, in recent days Nilofar Bayani, the second defendant in the environmental prisoners case, appeared at Evin Prosecutor’s Office to be informed of charges regarding a new case file that was recently opened for her.

In this session, Ms. Bayani was charged with “spreading lies.” This charge is due to the publication of a letter that Nilofar Bayani wrote in late Esfand 1398 describing her situation.

Part of this letter states: “IRGC intelligence interrogators, in order to obtain forced confessions, subjected her to ‘at least 1,200 hours of interrogation’ and ‘the most severe psychological and mental torture, threats of physical torture and sexual threats’.”

The new charge against Nilofar Bayani regarding the publication of the aforementioned content has been raised while, despite the appointment of a four-member committee by the government cabinet in Esfand of last year to investigate the claims raised in her petition letters, no independent investigations have yet been conducted and no report has been submitted.

Kazem Hosseini, lawyer for several environmental activists, stated regarding the matters raised in letters attributed to Nilofar Bayani that similar issues to “Nilofar Bayani” were also raised in the case of his client, Sepideh Kashani, another defendant in this case, and all matters have been submitted in writing to the court.

It should be noted that on 28 Farvardin 1398, Hrana News Agency for the first time reported on sexual harassment, torture and threats against some defendants in this case, including Nilofar Bayani, in order to obtain forced confessions.

In this report, Hrana stated that Nilofar Bayani was pressured to obtain forced confessions against herself and other defendants in the case. She was subjected to harassment and abuse, including sexual harassment, to make these confessions.

Hrana, through its sources, learned that during the interrogation conducted by IRGC intelligence interrogators, in some cases this environmental activist was treated completely naked, along with assault and touching of sexual organs and threats of rape.

Murad Tahbaz, Nilofar Bayani, Houman Jowkar, Taher Ghadiryan, Hamideh Kashani, Amirhossein Khaleghi, Sam Rajabi and Abdolreza Koohpayeh are defendants in the environmental activists case who were arrested by IRGC intelligence in Bahman and Esfand 1397 on charges of espionage. The Ministry of Intelligence, Iran’s other intelligence agency that considers itself the sole authority for determining espionage crimes, deemed the espionage charges against the defendants in this case unfounded.

The sentences of the first instance court for these defendants were ultimately confirmed by the appeals court on Tuesday, 29 Bahman. According to Gholamhossein Esmaili, spokesman for the Judiciary, Murad Tahbaz and Nilofar Bayani were sentenced to “10 years in prison and confiscation of assets for cooperation with America as a hostile state,” Houman Jowkar and Taher Ghadiryan were sentenced to “8 years in prison for cooperation with the hostile state of America,” Sam Rajabi and Sepideh (Hamideh) Kashani were sentenced to “6 years in prison for cooperation with the hostile state of America,” Amirhossein Khaleghi was sentenced to “6 years in prison for espionage” and Abdolreza Koohpayeh was sentenced to “4 years in prison for gathering and conspiracy with the intent to act against security.”

Source: Hrana