Morad Tahbaz Ends Hunger Strike; Human Rights Watch Calls for His Release
Human Rights Watch announced on Monday that Morad Tahbaz, a tri-national environmental activist and prisoner, has ended his week-long hunger strike, and called for his immediate release and that of other imprisoned environmental activists.
Tahbaz was returned to prison after his temporary release was abruptly terminated before the Persian New Year, prompting him to launch a one-week hunger strike.
Human Rights Watch has urged Islamic Republic authorities to “immediately and unconditionally release him and other environmental activists who have been unjustly imprisoned with him.”
Tahbaz was released on March 16, 2022 by Islamic Republic authorities and was allowed to travel to Tehran with his family.
However, despite an apparent agreement between Iranian and British officials to guarantee his furlough, Islamic Republic security forces unexpectedly arrested him again two days later, prompting him to launch a hunger strike.
According to a report by Emtedad website, during Tahbaz’s short furlough, “at least ten security personnel accompanied him,” with some “sleeping inside the apartment where the Tahbaz family lived” and others “stationed outside the building’s entrance.”
Tara Sepehrfar, Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch, described the Islamic Republic’s conduct in detaining dual and foreign nationals and using them as “bargaining chips” as “abhorrent.”
Sepehrfar also criticized British authorities for failing to take “sufficient” measures to guarantee Morad Tahbaz’s release, describing it as “disappointing.”
She called on governments in contact with Iranian authorities to “pressure them to release the detained activists.”
Earlier, reports had circulated about the possible release of Tahbaz alongside Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori, but according to The Guardian, the British government has delegated follow-up on his case to the United States.
Morad Tahbaz, 66, holds tri-national citizenship of Britain, Iran, and the United States and has been imprisoned for over four years.
Based on a court ruling issued in November 2019, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of collaboration with the United States.
Officials from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Intelligence Organization arrested Morad Tahbaz along with Amir Hossein Khaleghi, Taher Ghadiryan, Niloofar Bayani, Sepideh Kashani, Houman Jokar, Abdolreza Kohpayeh, and Kavous Seyed Emami in 2017 on charges of “espionage.”
After some time, it was announced that Seyed Emami had “committed suicide” in prison, a claim repeatedly denied by his family.
Over the past four years, Iran’s security and judicial forces have tortured detainees and committed serious violations of judicial rights and fair trial guarantees, while providing no evidence to support the charges against them, particularly the espionage allegations.
Source: Radio Farda
