Three More Environmental Activists Arrested in Iran

Coinciding with the fifth court session of eight environmental activists, reports have emerged about the arrest of Youssef Farhadi Babadi, an environmental activist in Shahr-e Kord, and Arman Vafaei and Shaho Faraji, two environmental activists in Sanandaj.

According to several news websites, this member of the environmental campaign “Seda-ye Paaye Ab” (Sound of Water’s Footstep) and his brother were arrested on Sunday, February 18, by Ministry of Intelligence agents in Shahr-e Kord while returning from a funeral ceremony.

Based on these reports, two Ministry of Intelligence vehicles stopped Farhadi Babadi’s car and “while intimidating his companions, proceeded to violently arrest him and his brother.”

The “Seda-ye Paaye Ab” Telegram channel expressed concern about “security scenarios” against environmental activists following Youssef Farhadi Babadi’s arrest.

According to the channel’s report, the Farsi News Agency affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and several channels close to security institutions had previously published reports against this campaign and its activists.

Mr. Babadi had previously been summoned and arrested on April 29 following a complaint by members of the Isfahan Parliament Assembly and was released on bail after 9 days.

The “Seda-ye Paaye Ab” campaign has conducted extensive activities to counter water transfer projects for the Karun and Zayandeh Rud rivers.

In December, 13 environmental activists and members of the National Unity Party in Kurdistan Province were arrested.

The Kurdistan Human Rights Network announced on Monday that Reza Asadi and Fazel Ghitasi, two of these environmental activists, were released on bail with 300 million toman guarantee after 47 days of detention in solitary confinement.

The website reported that on Sunday, Arman Vafaei and Shaho Faraji, two environmental activists and members of the Kurdistan branch of the National Unity Party in Sanandaj, were arrested by security forces.

According to the report, Shaho Faraji was arrested on one of the main streets of Sanandaj and Arman Vafaei was arrested at his home.

These environmental activists have been arrested while after one year, Sam Rajabi, Amirhossein Khaleghi, Houman Jokar, Sepideh Kashani, Niloofar Bayani, Taher Ghadiriyan, Abdolreza Kouhpaaye, and Morad Tahbaz remain in “temporary detention” of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Intelligence Organization.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the fifth session of these eight environmental activists was held at Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court headed by Judge Abolqasem Salwati.

In these court sessions, lawyers appointed by these environmental activists are not present, and only three lawyers deemed “trustworthy” by the judiciary are expected to defend them.

Meanwhile, Kazem Hosseini, one of these lawyers, announced on Sunday in an interview with IRNA news agency that Revolutionary Guard Corps agents do not even allow these lawyers to speak with these environmental activists during court sessions.

He said: “We have so far been unable to speak with our clients because the agents did not allow us to speak with them, and we only had brief greetings with our clients.”

Mr. Hosseini added: “We hope that in future sessions, they will allow us verbal communication with our clients; although this action by the agents is unlawful since the investigation of the case has been completed.”

Based on reports, Niloofar Bayani, one of eight imprisoned environmental activists, stated in the second court session that she confessed under pressure and due to threats from interrogators.

After that, it was announced that Ms. Bayani was not present in subsequent court sessions.

Meanwhile, Mr. Hosseini said: “The previous court session was also held with the presence of seven defendants and five lawyers, and one of the female defendants was not present in the session, and we do not know the reason for this defendant’s absence.”

Previously, the Iran Human Rights Campaign website reported, citing “an informed source,” that security agents intended to film Niloofar Bayani’s presence in a shopping mall and villa to portray her “enjoying herself.”

According to the report, Ms. Bayani rejected the agents’ suggestion to appear in these places, and they failed to make this film.

While several government officials and parliament members have repeatedly denied “espionage” charges against these environmental activists, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s Foreign Minister, at a meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, when asked about this matter, raised the case of Jamal Khashoggi’s killing and evaded answering the question.

Source: DW