Violations of environmental activists' rights continue; solitary confinement despite verdict
Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, a lawyer who previously represented two imprisoned environmental activists, said in an interview with the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that “keeping environmental activists in solitary confinement has no legal basis and is a violation of the law and a violation of the prisoners’ rights.”
At the same time, Kathy Rajabi, Sam Rajabi's sister, announced on her personal Twitter that her brother was prevented from being sent to the hospital, writing: "Today, too, they did not issue a document to send Sami to the hospital. They kept my brother in temporary detention for 20 months, sentenced him to 6 years without providing any evidence, and now they are preventing his treatment! What did you leave of his mother? Why don't you end this abuse?"
According to his sister, Sam Rajabi needs to be transferred to the hospital and undergo surgery due to a hemorrhoid problem, as prescribed by the prison's medical doctor.
Morad Tahbaz, Niloufar Bayani, and Hooman Jokar are three of these imprisoned activists who, despite being sentenced, are still being held in solitary confinement in Ward 2A of the IRGC. Mr. Aghasi told the campaign that “it seems that because they protested in court and said that they were forced to confess under pressure and deception, they are now punishing them in this way, in their own way, meaning they are preventing their transfer to a general ward and are still keeping them in solitary confinement, while according to the law, keeping a defendant in solitary confinement can be justified as long as there is a possibility of collusion with other defendants, intimidating them, or eliminating evidence that would prevent the investigation from reaching a conclusion. After that, it no longer has any legal justification and is against the law. The preliminary investigation of these three people has ended and they should have been transferred to a general ward as soon as the preliminary investigation was completed. They did not do so at that time. Now an indictment has been issued, a court has been held, and a sentence has been announced, and keeping them in solitary confinement is clearly against the law.”
Mr. Aghasi explained: “In this case, the first and second defendants, Murad Tahbaz and Niloufar Bayani, were apparently deceived into confessing and making promises that they did not keep. In court, Niloufar Bayani in particular interrupted the reading of the indictment several times and shouted that this was not valid in any way and that they had deceived me. According to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code, confessions are valid in court, not before the investigator or judicial officer. Of course, they ignored this law and convicted them. Because they protested in court, they are punishing them and preventing them from entering the general ward.”
Niloufar Bayani had said in court in February 2018 that she had been forced to make confessions through threats and torture, which were the basis of the case. The campaign had previously reported that reliance on forced confessions obtained by putting the defendants under pressure during interrogations was the main focus of the first trial of the eight imprisoned environmental activists, which was held in closed session in Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Abolghasem Salavati, and no evidence was presented to support the charges. According to the same report, some of the detained environmental activists were forced to confess against themselves under death threats, and IRGC intelligence agents have built a case against these activists based on false confessions obtained from them under duress and extreme pressure.
An informed source told the campaign that some of these environmental activists had been held in solitary confinement for months and subjected to psychological torture, death threats, threats to inject hallucinogenic drugs, and threats to arrest and kill their family members, and some of these activists had been beaten to force them to confess against themselves.
This is despite the fact that the National Security Council, the Ministry of Intelligence, and the Iranian Environmental Organization have denied the accusations attributed to these activists.
The sentences of the eight environmental activists were announced on Wednesday, November 19, despite the fact that, according to Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, "there were no strong reasons or documents supporting the charges in the cases of these activists."
Niloufar Bayani and Morad Tahbaz received the heaviest sentences from Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, each sentenced to ten years in prison. Hooman Jokar and Taher Ghadirian were each sentenced to eight years in prison, Amir Hossein Khaleghi, Sepideh Kashani, and Sam Rajabi were each sentenced to six years in prison, and Abdol Hossein Koohpayeh was sentenced to four years in prison.
Kavous Seyed Emami, Sam Rajabi, Homan Jokar, Niloufar Bayani, Morad Tahbaz, Taher Ghadirian, Amir Hossein Khaleghi, and Sepideh Kashani are former and current employees and managers of the “Parsian Heritage Wildlife” Institute who were arrested on February 25 and 26, 2017. The news of their arrest was kept quiet due to security pressures on their families, but with the death of Kavous Seyed Emami in Evin Prison, the names of the detainees were released to the media. Homan Jokar is the director of the Asiatic Cheetah Conservation Project, Taher Ghadirian is a UNESCO “Man and the Planet” Young Scientist, Sam Rajabi is an environmental expert, Amir Hossein Khaleghi and Niloufar Bayani are wildlife experts, Sepideh Kashani is Homan Jokar’s wife and the head of activities and former consultant for the United Nations Environment Program, and Morad Tahbaz is a colleague of the Parsian Institute.
Kavous Seyed Emami, a sociology professor, faculty member at Imam Sadeq University, and CEO of the Persian Heritage Wildlife Institute, was arrested on February 24, according to his son, and his family was informed of his death, which was reported as a "suicide," on February 9. However, it is unclear under what circumstances Kavous Seyed Emami was interrogated, under what physical and psychological conditions he was held in Evin Prison, and how such an incident could have happened to someone who was in perfect physical and mental health. This has raised concerns about the condition of other detainees.
The Persian Wildlife Heritage Office was also sealed after the arrest of Kavous Seyed Emami and his colleagues on February 24.
On April 8, 2018, MP Mahmoud Sadeghi wrote on his Twitter account about the Minister of Intelligence's statements in Parliament, stating that the Minister of Intelligence "clearly, with evidence, and documented that they have found no evidence of espionage."
Issa Kalantari, head of the Environmental Protection Organization, has also repeatedly said that there is no evidence of espionage against environmental activists and that they should be released. On June 1, 2018, Kalantari said: “Based on the determination of the four-member committee of the government board, the arrested activists should be released because there is no evidence to prove the accusations made against these individuals.”
The police chief also emphasized on August 12, 2018, that there was no evidence against their espionage, saying: “But the judiciary has not yet clarified their duties and is telling us that it has nothing to do with you and that you should not pursue it.”
Kavous Seyed-Emami, a 64-year-old university professor and environmental activist, was arrested on February 24, 2017, in a hush-hush manner by the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence agency, but on February 25, 2017, agents informed his family that he had committed suicide in prison. The IRGC agents did not allow Kavous’ family to perform an independent autopsy, and the university professor was buried on February 15, amid many questions and uncertainties from his family and the public, especially the Iranian academic community. No independent investigation into the death of Kavous Seyed-Emami, a university professor and environmental activist, was ever conducted in prison. Just four days after Seyed-Emami’s death, and while his death was still in the news, Tehran’s then-prosecutor, Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi, accused him of espionage on February 10, 2017. No evidence has been released to prove the judicial authorities’ claims to date. Mr. Emami’s family has denied all of these claims.
Source: Human Rights Campaign
