Human Rights Campaign calls for international investigation into suspicious deaths of prisoners in Iran

The Human Rights Campaign in Iran issued a statement holding the judiciary responsible for the death of Kavous Seyed Emami, an Iranian-Canadian citizen, and called for a UN investigation into suspicious deaths in Iranian prisons.

Kavous Seyed Emami, a university professor and environmental activist, was arrested about two weeks ago along with several other environmental activists, and the judiciary ultimately announced that he committed suicide in prison.

This is the third person in the past two months whose suicide has been announced by judicial authorities after being arrested.

On Saturday, the 21st, at the same time as the family announced the death of Kavous Seyed-Emami, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor of Tehran, said that several people "were collecting classified information about the country in strategic areas in the framework of implementing scientific and environmental projects" and had been arrested.

The Tehran prosecutor confirmed on Sunday that Mr. Seyed Emami was one of these detainees and claimed that he had “committed suicide” after confessions he or others had made about him.

In its statement, the Human Rights Campaign in Iran held the judiciary "responsible for the death" of Mr. Seyed Emami and called for an "international investigation" led by the UN "into three deaths that occurred in Iranian prisons over the past forty days."

Referring to the suspicious deaths of prisoners in Iran, Hadi Ghaemi, director of the Human Rights Campaign, said: "The increasing death rate in Iranian prisons is catastrophic. This reflects an unaccountable judicial and intelligence system that has no respect for the lives of prisoners. Interrogators and the judiciary are directly responsible for the right to life in prison, and therefore, in addition to independent investigations to identify the cause of death and autopsies, those who played a role in the development of such an event must be held accountable in a transparent process."

The Human Rights Campaign in Iran noted that Kavous Seyed Emami is the second Iranian-Canadian citizen to lose his life in Iranian prisons.

Zahra Kazemi, an Iranian-Canadian journalist and photographer, was arrested in front of Evin Prison in 2003, but did not leave the prison alive. In a report, the Investigative Committee of the Sixth Parliament named Judge Saeed Mortazavi as the primary defendant in the case of Zahra Kazemi's death, which was not investigated.

The Human Rights Campaign statement also mentions that around 11 citizens with dual citizenship or permanent residency in other countries are currently being held in Evin Prison.

Sina Ghanbari and Vahid Heydari were two other prisoners whose suicides were announced by judicial and law enforcement officials after their arrest in Evin and Arak prisons. The two were arrested during recent protests.

While the judiciary had announced that a video of Sina Ghanbari's suicide existed in Evin Prison, Alireza Rahimi, one of the representatives present on the Evin visiting delegation, stated that such a video basically does not exist.

He wrote on his Telegram channel: "This film is mistakenly referred to in various places as the film of Sina Ghanbari's suicide, while the film contains hours of footage of the prison's restrooms, and there is no footage of the restroom or the incident that led to death in the film, and there is basically no film of suicide."

In addition to Kavous Seyed Emami, two other of his colleagues at the Wildlife Institute, Hooman Jokar, director of the Asian Wildcat Project, and Morad Tahbaz, an environmental and cultural heritage activist, have also been arrested.

The London-based Kayhan newspaper has identified another detainee as Niloufar Bayani, the wife of Hooman Jokar and former head of activities and planning and consultant for the United Nations Environment Program.

Also, according to MP Mahmoud Sadeghi, Kaveh Madani, Deputy Director for International Affairs, Innovation, and Socio-Cultural Partnership at the Environmental Protection Organization, was also arrested on Saturday, February 11.

Reactions to the death of Kavous Seyyed Emami in prison

On Saturday, the Iranian Sociological Association issued a statement expressing deep regret over the death of Kavous Seyyed Emami in prison and calling on Iranian authorities to explain the circumstances of his death.

The statement from the Iranian Sociological Association states that Kavous Seyyed Emami "had, in addition to profound knowledge, good morals and exemplary calmness. For this reason, the news published about him is unbelievable, and it is expected that the authorities will be held accountable for this painful loss and explain it to the public."

According to information published by Imam Sadeq University on its website about Kavous Seyyed-Emami, this environmental activist studied at American universities and received his doctorate in sociology from the University of Oregon in 1991.

At the same time, four scientific associations wrote an open letter to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, calling on the institutions responsible for the death of Kavous Seyyed Emami, a sociologist and environmental activist, to be held accountable.

The Political Science Association, the Sociology Association, the Peace Studies Association, and the Iranian Association for Cultural Studies and Communications have written to the President of Iran, urging him, as the person responsible for implementing the constitution, to "explain and eliminate such unfortunate and continuous suffering that worries and distresses society."

In an open letter to Hassan Rouhani, these four scientific associations of the country have considered "the continued security gaze on higher education institutions and scientific and international activities and the disregard for laws and regulations related to procedural rules" inconsistent with his slogans and have stated that this will lead to nothing but despair and pessimism.

Meanwhile, according to ILNA news agency, MP Mahmoud Sadeghi announced on Sunday that there are two versions of the death of Kavous Seyyed Emami, saying: "As has been said, the family of this Imam Sadeq University professor was contacted and announced that Mr. Seyyed Emami committed suicide. Another version is that this sociologist died of cardiac arrest."

Mahmoud Sadeghi added: "According to the parliamentary deputy minister of intelligence, the arrest of these individuals is not related to the Ministry of Intelligence and it was likely that these individuals were arrested through other intelligence agencies."

The MP stated that he had also contacted Mahmoud Alavi, the Minister of Intelligence, in his follow-up efforts, and said: "Unfortunately, unlike usual, I have not received any response."

Source: Radio Farda