Extension of temporary detention order for environmental activists in Evin until April 25: "No one is held accountable"

An informed source told the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that the temporary detention orders of seven detained environmental activists have been extended until April 25, 2018.  According to this source, except for Niloufar Bayani, none of the detainees have met with their families since their arrest, and their lawyers have not been allowed to meet with their clients or enter the case file.

The source told the campaign : " Only once were Niloufar Bayani's mother and father called for a visit, and they saw their daughter for a moment from a distance. Niloufar came, waved, and left. "

According to this source, they still do not know what charges the detainees are facing : " No one is responding to the families . The children only have the right to make occasional phone calls, and that is just to say hello. The families are not tied to anything. "

The source also said that the members of parliament, who had been demanding follow-up on the environmental activists’ situation in the early days of their detention, have been silent in recent days and “ seem to have withdrawn. ” Referring to the families’ recent meetings with the members of parliament, the source said : “ The families went to the office of MP Mohammad Aref two weeks ago. After listening to the conversation, he simply said : ‘ We will follow up now.’ Abdul Karim Hosseinzadeh said, ‘Come out soon.’ Mohammad Kazemi told the families that these are spies, you don’t know .”

The source continued: “Everyone is saying something and no one is doing anything. We are being left with nothing and our loved ones are being held in prison in uncertain conditions. ”

This source close to the detained environmental activists said about the transfer of the work cars of these people and the cars that belonged to the Wildlife Heritage : " The IRGC agents also took away the cars that these children used to go hunting in the area. Some of them belong to the Wildlife Heritage Office and some were private cars that were either parked in the office parking lot or in the areas. We really don't know why these cars were taken. "

Previously, an informed source, referring to the families' meeting with members of parliament, said that university professors and colleagues of the arrested individuals were also present at one of the meetings and explained to the members about the cameras installed in the areas, how they work, and the Yoz project.

Also, a few days after the news of Kavous Seyyed Emami's death was reported to the media, Hassan Rouhani formed a four- member committee to follow up on his death and the situation of the detained environmental activists. However, no news has been made public about the results of this committee's follow-up. Even the autopsy report on Seyyed Emami has not been communicated to his family.

Absolute ignorance of Alireza Farhadzadeh

Expressing concern about the situation of Alireza Farhadzadeh, the wildlife documentary filmmaker who made the film “ Day of the Wildcat, ” he told the campaign : “ Alireza’s situation is more worrying than the rest of the detainees because there has been no news of him since his arrest. He has not even had a single phone call. ” Alireza Farhadzadeh was arrested by IRGC agents in Bandar Abbas on March 27, 2017.

The arrests of environmental activists continued for weeks in media silence until Ramin Seyed Emami, the son of the late Kavous Seyed Emami, announced his father's death in prison on his Twitter and Instagram accounts on February 9. After that, the arrests of other environmental activists became a media topic.

The names of the 13 arrested environmental activists who have been confirmed so far are as follows : Amir Hossein Khaleghi, Hooman Jokar, Taher Ghadirian, Sepideh Kashani, Sam Rajabi, Niloufar Bayani, Morad Tahbaz. Morteza Arianezhad, Hassan Ragh, Aref Zare and Hassan Zare (brother), Abdolreza Koohpayeh, and Alireza Farhadzadeh. Kavous Seyed Emami also died in prison two weeks after his arrest. Judiciary officials claimed that he committed suicide in prison.

According to the campaign’s information, initially, environmental activist Morad Tahbaz and a colleague of the Parsian Heritage Wildlife Institute were arrested, and after some time, on February 24, the late Kavous Seyed-Emami and other former and current colleagues of the institute were arrested separately by IRGC officers on the street, at home, or in the institute’s office on the same day. After Kavous Seyed-Emami’s death was reported in the media, five environmental activists from Bandar Abbas, Morteza Aryanezhad, Hassan Ragh, Aref Zare, Hassan Zare, and Abdolreza Kouhpayeh, were arrested, and Alireza Farhadzadeh, who had gone to Bandar Abbas to make a film and was a guest of Abdolreza Kouhpayeh, was also arrested.

The Persian Wildlife Heritage Office was also sealed after the arrest of Kavous Seyed Emami and his colleagues on February 25.  

After the news of Kavous Seyed-Emami's death in Evin Prison was published, the Tehran prosecutor's office brought serious charges against him and the other detainees, including spying for the CIA and Mossad and collecting classified information in the media. Although the judiciary has so far refused to provide any documents to prove such claims.

Source: Human Rights Campaign