Kaveh Madani’s Resignation and Environmental Organization’s Silence

Kaveh Madani, deputy of the Environmental Organization, has left Iran. He submitted his resignation during an official trip. Kaveh Madani, an independent environmental scientist, had returned to Iran to cooperate with the Rouhani government.

Mahmoud Sadeghi wrote on his Twitter page: “Today I heard from a reliable source that Kaveh Madani, deputy of the Environmental Protection Organization, has left Iran. His wife, who was banned from leaving the country, also left after the travel ban was lifted. A lesson for Iranian intellectuals residing abroad!”

This message was posted on Sunday, April 15, on the Twitter social network. Many users of this network had been asking for days: “Where is Kaveh Madani?” Kaveh Madani, former professor of water and environmental management at Imperial College London and a prominent environmental researcher in the field of drought and global water crisis, returned to Iran in 2017 at the invitation of the head of the Environmental Protection Organization to cooperate with the organization in Hassan Rouhani’s government.

His return to Iran was an encouraging sign for domestic experts of the presence of specialized personnel in government bodies and the possibility of expanding international cooperation. Kaveh Madani’s activity in a government institution was also the beginning of a new chapter of cooperation for Iranian experts abroad who were eager to contribute their knowledge and experience for Iran’s progress.

Kaveh Madani holds a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California, a Master’s degree in Water Resources from Lund University in Sweden, and a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Tabriz.

In 2012, he was selected by the American Civil Engineers Association as one of ten “new faces of civil engineering.” In 2016, the “European Union of Geosciences” introduced Kaveh Madani as one of four prominent young scientists in earth sciences. When he returned to Iran, he was a renowned and independent young scientist who had told the “Shargh” newspaper that one of the reasons for his return was to encourage his generation to participate in government decisions.

As a specialist, he had said: “Someone told me I should use this as a representative of my generation.” Kaveh Madani had emphasized in that interview: “Anyone who has left Iran is not a foreigner. Not a supporter of the past and not a spy of imperialism. This view that anyone who left Iran is untrustworthy may be wrong. Perhaps we can actually benefit from the capital of Iranians abroad in government.”

Kaveh Madani probably did not expect to be arrested and accused of espionage before the end of the year. He was arrested on February 12, 2018, in connection with the “environmental activists espionage” case by IRGC intelligence forces. This arrest was never officially confirmed, and Kaveh Madani, the next day, tried to normalize the situation by sending a message on Instagram from his workplace. However, his working conditions in Iran were never “normal.”

“Glimmers of hope that are dimming”

The publication of Kaveh Madani’s image in a meeting between the head of Iran’s Environmental Organization and the German ambassador on the German ambassador’s account, with reference to Kaveh Madani’s presence and the prominence of his name in the media to clarify his activities, indicated a hidden conflict between Kaveh Madani’s government supporters and opponents of the presence of “an outsider” in one of Iran’s most sensitive government institutions.

The Environmental Organization’s opposition to implementing large-scale projects without scientific support, including uncontrolled dam construction and efforts to manage the water crisis, is not pleasing to institutions active in this field, including companies affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, and has become a serious challenge for Hassan Rouhani’s government.

The publication of images of Kaveh Madani at a private gathering on April 1 in several principlist media outlets, while Kaveh Madani was traveling to participate in the fifth Asia-Pacific General Assembly in Thailand, seemed to have settled the matter once and for all, closing the hidden controversial file over Kaveh Madani in favor of the principlists.

Mehr News Agency, citing an informed source, wrote: “Kaveh Madani, after his images were published in some media, while on an official trip abroad, resigned from there. However, this resignation has not yet been accepted.”

The news of Kaveh Madani’s resignation has received extensive coverage in the country’s official media and cyberspace. Nahid Molaei, a reporter for the “Jameeh-ye No” newspaper, wrote on her Twitter account: “For you, it may be just a simple resignation and departure, but for us it is the last glimmers of hope that are dimming.”

Iran’s Environmental Organization has not yet formally commented on confirming or denying the news of the resignation of its deputy.

In his first tweet after the news of his resignation was published, Kaveh Madani shared a poem by Hushyar Ebtehaj.

Source: DW