Travel Ban on Kavous Seyed-Emami’s Wife Extended Again: “No One is Accountable for My Mother’s Situation”

Ramin Seyed-Emami, son of Kavous Seyed-Emami, told the Iran Human Rights Campaign about the renewed extension of his mother’s travel ban despite having no legal case: “There are no charges against my mother, but we don’t know why her exit from the country has been blocked for a year. Unfortunately, the most basic right—the ability to travel—has been taken from my mother. We have been mourning for a year and wanted to be together. But my mother is on that side and we are on this side. No one provides an answer for why my mother’s travel ban was imposed and why it was extended. My mother committed no crime and has no legal case; why should she be banned from travel? We have been stuck in a state of limbo without answers for a year.”

Seyed-Emami’s two children intended to leave the country for Canada with their mother some time after Seyed-Emami’s death on March 8, 2018. However, at the airport, Maryam Mombini was informed she was banned from traveling.

On February 9, 2019, Peyam Darfshan, the lawyer of Maryam Mombini, the wife of Kavous Seyed-Emami, told IRNA news agency that her client’s travel ban had been extended. She discovered on February 19 during her visit to Evin Prison’s prosecution office that her client’s “travel ban order” had not been revoked but rather “extended.” According to Darfshan, this order was issued by “Amin Naseri, the head of the security prosecution office.”

Twelve days earlier, Abouzar Nasrolahi, another lawyer for Seyed-Emami’s wife, told IRNA that on February 7 they had contacted the General Prosecutor’s Office, which is responsible for inquiring about citizens’ travel ban status, and discovered that the travel ban order for Maryam Mombini had expired as of January 1, 2019. This lawyer had said that since the entity that issued and extended it is the “head of the security prosecution office,” he must separately announce its revocation.

However, twelve days later, it became clear that Ms. Mombini’s travel ban had been inexplicably renewed again for an unspecified future date.

In a conversation with IRNA on February 20, Peyam Darfshan protested the renewal of his client’s travel ban, saying: “The order banning exit from the country was among precautionary measures, and even with alleged security justifications, no charges have ever been brought against my client from the beginning, and she has only been asked to cooperate as an informed person.”

The lawyer also said they had submitted another letter to Tehran’s prosecutor requesting: “We requested that given the continuation of the travel ban order against my client despite her having no involvement in any matter, the travel ban order be lifted, regardless of the fact that the aforementioned order lacks legal justification.”

On March 8, 2018, at Imam Khomeini Airport, as Maryam Mombini was planning to travel to Canada with her two children, airport officials informed her she was banned from traveling. Her lawyer, Peyam Darfshan, said in a conversation with the Campaign on April 19, 2018, that his client’s travel ban was not based on a judicial ruling but rather a security decision.

On February 10, Maryam Mombini was summoned to Branch 27 of the court to meet with her husband, but after three hours of interrogation and threats of arrest for herself and family members, she was told her husband had committed suicide in prison. “They forced her to sign a paper and pledge not to speak with the media or she would be imprisoned.”

She was repeatedly harassed after her husband’s death. On June 25, 2019, twenty security personnel with film cameras entered Kavous Seyed-Emami’s home and interrogated Ms. Mombini “by force” for several hours to produce a film referred to as “Descent” in front of the camera. According to her lawyers, Ms. Mombini screamed repeatedly and her cries could be heard from below the house window. After several hours of interrogation, she loses consciousness and has to be transferred to the hospital.

Kavous Seyed-Emami, a sociology professor, faculty member at Imam Sadiq University, and director general of the “Pars Heritage Wildlife Institute,” was detained on January 25, 2018, according to his son’s account, and the family was informed of his death by “suicide” on February 10, 2018. However, it remains unclear under what conditions Kavous Seyed-Emami was interrogated, under what physical and psychological conditions he was held in Evin Prison, and how such an incident could occur to someone who was in perfect physical and mental health.

Source: Iran Human Rights Campaign