Eight Environmental Activists’ Families Call for Their Release in Letter to Head of Judiciary
The families of eight environmental activists who have been in temporary detention in solitary and multi-person cells at Evin Prison since late February 2018 have submitted an open letter to the head of the judiciary calling for the end of their detention and their release, despite more than a year and six months having passed since their arrest and no documents or evidence being presented by the prosecutor’s office and the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization for this prolonged detention.
Hesam Khalegi, brother of Amirhossein Khalegi, one of the detained environmental activists, published a copy of the families’ letter to Ibrahim Raisi, head of the judiciary, on his Twitter page on July 28th. Hesam Khalegi has called on internet users to share this letter. The letter repeatedly mentions intimidation, torture, and threats against these environmental activists, and notes that their charges have been changed multiple times without providing evidence during “510 days of detention.”
The letter states that the families of the imprisoned environmental activists had previously sent two other letters addressed to Raisi in March and May 2019, both of which went unanswered, and the illegal detention process continues. This is their third letter within the past four months.
According to the letter, the illegal actions taken against the eight environmental activists by the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization and the judiciary since their detention include “pressure, intimidation, and torture” to extract confessions, lack of freedom to choose a lawyer, denial of the right to consult with any lawyer for up to one year after arrest, continuation of temporary detention beyond the legal time limit, failure to transfer Nilufar Bayani to her second court session solely because she had testified about the pressures and torture used to extract a confession in front of the judge in the first session, transfer of all of them to unknown locations for interrogation, intimidation, and threats, and ultimately the failure by the prosecutor’s office and the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization to present any documents or evidence proving their guilt.
In this letter, the families addressed to Raisi wrote: “For approximately one year from the time of arrest, they were deprived of the right to meet with a lawyer, and the court hearing the case did not allow them to freely choose a lawyer of their own will and preference. This is a clear violation of the law and contrary to Articles 48 and 190 of the Criminal Procedure Code and constitutes illegal conduct by the prosecutor’s office and the court.”
The letter continues: “Now that more than a year and a half has passed since the case was opened and the indictment has been read in court, it has become clear that not only has no document or evidence been presented by the prosecutor’s office and the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization, but reliance has been solely and entirely on confessions extracted under severe pressure.”
In this letter, they questioned the head of the judiciary, as the highest judicial authority in the country: “Does disregarding the objections and complaints of detainees regarding confessions extracted under pressure, intimidation, and torture from the beginning of the investigation, and more importantly, extracting confessions under the aforementioned conditions, not constitute illegal conduct and violations of the law by law enforcement officials? Is issuing an indictment based on confessions that, in accordance with Article 60 of the Criminal Procedure Code, are invalid, not a violation of the law by the prosecutor’s office?”
The letter also refers to the failure to transfer Nilufar Bayani, one of the environmental activists, to her second court session: “Despite the law’s emphasis on reading the indictment in the presence of the accused, does the failure to transfer Ms. Nilufar Bayani from detention and her prevention from attending court due to her objection to the pressures exerted to extract a confession and her rejection of confessions extracted under pressure during preliminary investigations, not constitute a violation of the law and illegal conduct by the court?”
These families also mentioned the transfer of “all detainees” to unknown locations for questioning: “Does the transfer of all detainees to unknown locations for repeated questioning, intimidation, and threats, even after the end of investigations, issuance of the indictment, submission of the case to court, and even after reading the indictment in court, not constitute disregard for the law and illegal conduct by law enforcement officials?”
In the letter to the head of the judiciary, it states: “Only Almighty God knows how this year and a half has passed for us. From the violation of the law, from being uninformed, from solitary confinement, from intimidation and pressure on our loved ones, from uncertainty, from exhausting and futile efforts, and from the fact that the charges against our loved ones have been changed every week and month! While more than 510 days have passed since the temporary detention of our loved ones 1– Morad Tahbaz 2– Amirhossein Khalegi, 3– Sam Rajabi, 4– Abdolreza Kohpayeh 5– Taher Ghadiryan and the ladies 1– Sepideh Kashani and 2– Nilufar Bayani, under suspicion of certain charges by the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization.”
The families of these eight imprisoned environmental activists began their letter: “In this year and a half, more than the suffering of imprisonment and separation from our loved ones, the lack of accountability and violation of the law by the responsible authorities has been painful and bitter for us.”
Referring to Raisi’s slogans that he presented after his appointment as head of the judiciary, they wrote: “With your emphasis on the necessity of upholding the law, we have expected and continue to expect that the violation of the law in handling our loved ones’ case be stopped, but nearly two months after our last correspondence with you and explaining the violations that have occurred in the process of handling the case, this has not yet happened and the illegal process has not been halted.” At the end of the letter, the families of these eight environmental activists stated: “Given the different and contradictory statements made by various security agencies, including the Ministry of Intelligence, the Supreme National Security Council, and the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization regarding the espionage charges against our loved ones, the matter should be reviewed in light of the documents and evidence claimed in the case in the presence of all relevant security agencies and bodies.”
Previously, these families had written letters to Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, the president of Iran, Sadegh Amoli Larijani, the former head of the judiciary, and Larijani, the speaker of parliament, requesting help to free their children, none of whom responded to their letters.
Sepideh Kashani, Nilufar Bayani, Amirhossein Khalegi, Houman Jowkar, Morad Tahbaz, Abdolreza Kohpayeh, Sam Rajabi, and Taher Ghadiryan are eight environmental activists who were arrested by the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization on the fourth and fifth days of February 2018. Some of them are accused of espionage, and two of them are accused of the serious charge of “corruption on earth.” So far, two court sessions have been held for Nilufar Bayani and Morad Tahbaz in February 2019, but Nilufar Bayani was not transferred to her second court session, with only her lawyer present. However, contrary to promises made, the trials of the other detainees have not yet been held.
A year after the detention of these activists, the Supreme National Security Council, like members of parliament and the head of the Environmental Protection Organization, announced that there was no evidence of espionage by these individuals. Mahmoud Sadeghi, a member of parliament, announced in a tweet in February 2019 that the Supreme National Security Council had also not identified the activities of these individuals as espionage: “According to information received, the Supreme National Security Council, after expert review of the environmental activists’ case, did not identify the activities of the accused as espionage.”
Earlier, the Minister of Intelligence, one of the members of the investigation committee of the presidency regarding the detention of environmental activists, and the head of the Environmental Protection Organization of Iran reported on their innocence and said they were being held in detention without cause.
Isa Kalantari, head of the Environmental Protection Organization, said on May 21, 2018: “Based on the assessment of a four-member committee of the cabinet, ‘the detained activists should be released because there is no evidence to prove the charges against these individuals.’ He said: “So far, it has become clear that these individuals were arrested without doing anything and should be released.”
On February 4th, an informed source regarding developments in this case told the campaign about details of mistreatment of these individuals in prison, saying that “some of these environmental activists were subjected to months of solitary confinement and psychological torture, death threats, threats of injection of hallucinogenic drugs, and threats of arrest and killing of their family members. This source also added that some of these activists were beaten to force them to confess against themselves.”
Full text of the letter from eight environmental activists to the head of the judiciary (third letter in the past four months)
In the name of the Almighty merciful and compassionate God
His Excellency Dr. Seyyed Ibrahim Raisi
Esteemed Head of the Judiciary
With greetings and respect; Following our letters in March 2019 and May 2019, we hereby resubmit the following regarding the case of environmental activists:
Your Excellency, after accepting responsibility in the judiciary and in your introductory session on March 11, 2019, you correctly stated: “I do not want to say that the administration of equal justice is the same as the administration of law, but at present if we want to agree on one principle, that principle is the administration of law” and you added: “No one under any circumstances and in any position will have the right to circumvent the law and commit legal violations.”
Your Excellency Dr. Raisi; In this year and a half, more than the suffering of imprisonment and separation from our loved ones, the lack of accountability and violation of the law by the responsible authorities has been difficult and unbearable for us. With your presence in the judiciary and your emphasis on the necessity of upholding the law, we have expected and continue to expect the process of non-compliance with the law in handling our loved ones’ case to be halted, but nearly two months have passed since our last correspondence with you and the violations that have occurred in the process of handling the case, and to this day this has not happened and the illegal process has not been stopped.
Your Excellency Dr. Raisi; In your view:
1) That all defendants for about one year from the time of arrest were deprived of the right to meet with a lawyer, and the court handling the case also did not allow them to freely choose a lawyer of their own will and preference on their own, does not this constitute a violation of the law and contrary to Articles 48 and 190 of the Criminal Procedure Code and illegal conduct by the prosecutor’s office and the court?
2) Is it in violation of the clarity of Article 242 of the Criminal Procedure Code which states: “… in any case, the period of temporary detention for crimes punishable by death shall not exceed two years and for other crimes shall not exceed one year.” and the law makes no exceptions, whether for security-related or non-security-related crimes, with the passage of one year and five months since the detention of these loved ones, the continuation of temporary detention from February 2018 (one year has passed) at least for four of them (Amirhossein Khalegi Hamidi, Sam Rajabi, Abdolreza Kohpayeh and Sepideh Kashani) given their charges, not illegal and a violation of the Criminal Procedure Code by the court ??
3) Is the court’s insistence on temporary detention for 4 others (Morad Tahbaz, Houman Jowkar, Taher Ghadiryan and Nilufar Bayani) despite 10 months having passed since the completion of preliminary investigations and also the failure to transfer the aforementioned to the general ward of the prison to enjoythe minimum civil rights and facilities provided for prisoners, not a violation of the law and disregard for Articles 237, 238 and 250 of the Criminal Procedure Code?
4) Is it now that more than a year and a half has passed since the case was opened and the indictment has been read in court, it has become clear that not only has no document or evidence been presented by the prosecutor’s office and the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization, but reliance has been solely on confessions extracted under severe pressure, disregarding the objections and complaints of detainees regarding confessions extracted under pressure, intimidation, and torture from the beginning of the investigation and more importantly, extracting confessions under the aforementioned conditions, not an act in violation of the law and illegal conduct by law enforcement officials? Is issuing an indictment based on confessions which, with regard to Article 60 of the Criminal Procedure Code, are invalid, not a violation of the law by the prosecutor’s office?
5) Is it despite the law’s emphasis on reading the indictment in the presence of the accused, the failure to transfer Ms. Nilufar Bayani from detention and her prevention from attending court due to her objection to the pressures exerted to extract a confession and her rejection of confessions extracted under pressure during preliminary investigations by her, not a violation of the law and illegal conduct by the court?
6) Is the transfer of all detainees to unknown locations and their subjection to repeated questioning, intimidation, and threats, even after the end of investigations, issuance of the indictment, submission of the case to court, and even after reading the indictment in court, not a violation of the law and illegal conduct by law enforcement officials?
Your Excellency Dr. Raisi; While more than 510 days have passed since the temporary detention of our loved ones Messrs.: 1– Morad Tahbaz 2- Amirhossein Khalegi 3- Sam Rajabi 4- Houman Jowkar 5- Abdolreza Kohpayeh 6- Taher Ghadiryan and Madams 1- Sepideh Kashani and 2- Nilufar Bayani, under suspicion of certain charges by the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization, only Almighty God knows how this year and a half has passed for us? From the violation of the law, from being uninformed, from solitary confinement, from intimidation and pressure on our loved ones, from uncertainty, from exhausting and futile efforts, and from the fact that the charges against our loved ones have been changed every week and month!!
However, since the beginning of the case formation, we have been following our loved ones’ case while maintaining calm and avoiding confrontation, respecting the law, and solely through legal channels of the country, and in this regard we have had numerous correspondences and meetings with most of the relevant authorities in the country and have respectfully requested the review of our loved ones’ case in accordance with the law and the protection of their legal rights.
We now again request from you, based on your covenant with the people at the beginning of accepting responsibility, which is that no one under any circumstances and in any position will have the right to circumvent the law and commit legal violations, while issuing an order regarding the reversal of the illegal detention of our loved ones and their release, given the different and contradictory statements made by various security agencies, including the Ministry of Intelligence, the Supreme National Security Council and the Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Organization regarding the espionage charges against our loved ones, the matter should be reviewed in light of the documents and evidence claimed in the case in the presence of all relevant security agencies and bodies, in order to prevent the violation of rights and the unfounded imposition of security charges and unjust punishment against them. We express our profound gratitude in advance for your gracious consideration.
Source: Human Rights Campaign
