The final court hearing of two imprisoned environmental activists was held.
In recent days, the final court session of two imprisoned environmental activists was held in Tehran's Revolutionary Court, and it is said that their sentences will be issued soon.
According to news published on social media, the final court session of Sam Rajabi and Abdolreza Kouhpayeh was held on Tuesday, October 20th, at Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Salavati.
Katayoun Rajabi, Sam Rajabi's sister, also announced on her Twitter page that the court's verdict will be issued in "8 days."
On the other hand, Issa Kalantari, Vice President of Iran and Head of the Environmental Organization, said on Wednesday, November 1, regarding the status of the activists' case, without providing further details, that their problem "will soon be resolved by the judiciary."
Previously, Fatemeh Ghadirian, the sister of Taher Ghadirian, one of the defendants in the environmental case in Iran, announced on her Instagram story on Sunday, October 11, that the charge of "corruption on earth" had been dropped from the case of four environmental defendants in Iran.
However, on Monday, October 12, the judiciary spokesman announced that the charges against Murad Tahbaz, Niloufar Bayani, and Hooman Jokar, three defendants in the environmental activists case, had been changed from "corruption on earth" to "espionage for the benefit of the CIA and Mossad."
Recently, British scientist and UN Messenger of Peace Jane Goodall released a video calling for the release of imprisoned environmental activists in Iran and asked Iranian leaders to "sow seeds of kindness, forgiveness, and compassion" in relation to the cases of these individuals.
Hooman Jokar, Taher Ghadirian, Morad Tahbaz, Sepideh Kashani, Niloufar Bayani, Amirhossein Khaleghi, Sam Rajabi, and Abdolreza Kouhpayeh are among the environmental activists detained in Iran. Pouria Sepahvand, an expert at the Parsian Heritage Wildlife Institute, was also arrested in February last year. The defendants have been in temporary detention for nearly two years. Court hearings for detained environmental activists in Iran had been suspended since early this year.
Kavous Seyed Emami was among those arrested, and two weeks after his arrest, news of his death in prison was released. Islamic Republic officials said the cause of his death was suicide, but Seyed Emami's family has denied this claim.
The court hearings for environmental defendants are being held in a situation where it was previously reported that environmental activists are not allowed to have lawyers of their own choosing and are only allowed to speak to lawyers approved by the judiciary.
Amnesty International recently called on Iranian authorities to end the repression of environmental activists, coinciding with World Environment Day.
The environmental crisis in Iran has long attracted the attention of the international community. US officials have also repeatedly warned about the mismanagement of Iran's natural resources, widespread deforestation, and unnecessary and unplanned dam construction aimed at lining the pockets of corrupt officials of the Islamic Republic regime, and have cited it as one of the main factors in the emergence of various environmental crises, including devastating floods and unprecedented droughts.
For example, not long ago, Brian Hook, the US Special Representative for Iran, pointed out that 600 dams have been built in Iran "without any environmental assessment" after the revolution, and announced that the Islamic Republic regime has destroyed the country's water resources through mismanagement over the past forty years.
Source: Voice of America
