Tehran prosecutor's explanation about environmental activists' case: The judiciary can change the charges at any time

The Tehran prosecutor announced the issuance of indictments for eight environmental activists who have been in temporary detention since February, saying that the charges against four of them have been changed from espionage to the serious charge of “ corruption on earth . ” According to the Tehran prosecutor, indictments have been issued for all eight individuals and are ready to be sent to court. The charge of corruption on earth, if proven, could be accompanied by the death penalty.

In a press conference on November 2, Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi responded to criticism from some officials, including members of parliament and the director of the Environmental Protection Organization, regarding the change of the title of a charge from espionage to the serious charge of " corruption on earth " after nine months of temporary detention, saying : " No one can criticize the prosecutor or the investigator in this regard. " He said that the judiciary and the investigator can change the titles and charges at any time.

Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, the lawyer for two of the eight arrested environmental activists, first announced the change in the charges against some of the arrested environmental activists in an interview with the media. On October 20, Aghasi told the campaign that the Tehran prosecutor had changed the charges from espionage to corruption on earth due to a letter from the “ army ” and sent the case to the investigator. The lawyer also said that this change of charges had occurred for “ five ” of the arrested activists: Niloufar Bayani, Hooman Jokar, Morad Tahbaz, Sepideh Kashani, and Taher Ghadirian.

However, on the same day of November 2, Mohammad Hossein Aghasi denied the "army" letter to the Tehran prosecutor in an interview with the state-run IRNA news agency, saying : " In no way did I announce that the army had given a letter about this or had any involvement in this matter. The army had absolutely no involvement in the entire case. The judicial officer of this case is another organization. "

Tehran Prosecutor Jafari Dolatabadi said that the investigator in the case received a letter from “ competent authorities related to military affairs ,” which “determined that the actions taken by a number of the defendants in this case were to approach military sites under the guise of environmental actions and obtain military information about these environments. Therefore, the investigator changed the charges against four of the defendants due to the completion of the investigation.” However, the Tehran prosecutor did not specifically name the four individuals.

Jafari Dowlatabadi, in protest against criticism for changing the title of the charge, linked it to Article 286 of the Islamic Penal Code and said, "Anyone who causes a serious disruption to the public order of the country, insecurity, or major damage to the physical integrity of individuals or public and private property, or causes widespread corruption or prostitution, is subject to a change in the law, and must be prosecuted on charges of being a corrupter on earth. "

The Tehran prosecutor, however, did not provide any explanation for the severe disruption caused by these four individuals, only stating that all of their cases will soon be heard in an " impartial " court.

After the media coverage of Kavoos Seyed Emami's death and the arrest of environmental activists, judicial officials repeatedly claimed that these environmental activists had spied on military areas under the guise of environmental activities, but suddenly the same arguments and the reason for the arrest, which were called espionage charges, were changed to corruption on earth.

Previously, one of their espionage cases, which was announced by judicial authorities, was the use of 50-meter cameras by these environmental activists, but Issa Kalantari, head of the Environmental Protection Organization, said on February 15, 2017 : " These cameras are for monitoring cheetahs and their vision is not more than 50 meters and the maximum range of these cameras is 50 meters. "

On the other hand, a source close to the family of one of the three environmental activists whose charges are still unclear told the campaign: "We also learned today from the words of the Tehran prosecutor that an indictment was issued for the children, and we have no information about the content of the indictment and the charges."

Amir Hossein Khaleghi, Sam Rajabi, Abdolreza Koohpayeh, Niloufar Bayani, Hooman Jokar, Morad Tahbaz, Sepideh Kashani, and Taher Ghadirian are eight environmental activists who were arrested by the IRGC Intelligence Service on February 24 and 25, and are currently being held in Ward 2A of the IRGC in Evin Prison. After nine months of temporary detention, their indictment has been issued, according to the prosecutor.

On November 2, Issa Kalantari, head of the Environmental Protection Organization, called the new accusation of corruption on earth against a number of arrested environmental activists an " allegation " that must be investigated, in line with the statements of the Tehran prosecutor.

Mr. Kalantari said that even the four-member government committee formed to investigate the situation of environmental activists and the cause of Kavoos Seyed-Emami's death has no idea why the charges were changed : " This issue was raised in the four-member committee appointed by the government, which included Ms. Laya Junaidi, the vice president for legal affairs, and everyone announced that they had not informed us about this matter. " Issa Kalantari had previously said many times that there was no evidence to support the idea that these individuals were being spied on and that they remained in prison for no reason.

Also, Mohammad Reza Tabesh, the head of the parliamentary environment faction, stated on October 20 that he was “ surprised ” by the new charges against environmental activists and said that an explanation should be given for changing the charges. The MP said : “ We have been insisting that the case of the detained environmental activists be sent to the judicial court. Also, last week, we went to Mr. Larijani’s office with a group of MPs and he negotiated with Mr. Dowlatabadi, and finally Mr. Dowlatabadi promised that the case would be referred to the judicial court. We hope that this will be done as soon as possible and that these people will be able to enjoy their right to a lawyer and other legal rights.”

 On April 8, 2018, MP Mahmoud Sadeghi also tweeted about the Minister of Intelligence's statements in Parliament, saying that the Minister of Intelligence " clearly, with evidence, and documented that they have found no evidence of espionage ."

After writing a letter to the heads of the three branches of government that went unanswered, the families of these eight arrested environmental activists wrote a letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on September 17, 2018, demanding their immediate release, a fair trial without restrictions, and access to a lawyer. This letter, too, has gone unanswered.

Source: Iran Human Rights Campaign