Ramin Seyed Emami: The reporter for "The Usual Suspects" was my mother's interrogator; they are seeking to justify my father's death

Ramin Seyed Emami, the son of Kavous Seyed Emami, a university professor and environmental activist who died in Evin Prison in February 2017 for unknown reasons, said in an interview with the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that a reporter who appeared on the "Usual Suspects" program interrogated his mother, Ms. Maryam Mombini, on July 20, 2018.

While the arrested environmental activists are awaiting the verdict after the trial sessions, the third channel of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) broadcast a program titled “The Usual Suspects” on Sunday, November 9, on the topic of “The Case of the Environmental Defendants,” which was stopped in the first few minutes of broadcast due to a technical glitch. As can be seen from the extensive advertising for the film on social networks close to security institutions, the arresting institutions, in coordination with IRIB, have begun a new effort to justify these arrests. This is while several national institutions, including the National Security Council and the Ministry of Intelligence, have stated that the defendants in this case did not commit espionage. In addition, after the death of Kavous Seyyed Emami, the investigation into his death has still not reached a conclusion.

Mr. Seyed Emami told the campaign: "More than 30 IRGC agents stormed our house in July 2018, during a football match between the Iranian and Portuguese national teams. They had taken several large boxes with them to the basement of our house, and this person, who is now a reporter on this program, was one of these agents who interrogated my mother in our house and in front of the camera. My mother recognized him before this program began. This person wanted my mother to say that my father was a spy and showed a series of photos showing who these people were and what your connection was with them, and these questions."

The November 5 campaign reported that with the conclusion of the preliminary court hearings of these imprisoned environmental activists, their charges of "collaborating with the hostile government of the United States and the Zionist regime against the Islamic Republic of Iran to spy for the benefit of the CIA and Mossad" were declared the subject of Article 508 of the Islamic Penal Code, and the eight defendants in this case are now awaiting a court verdict after 22 months of detention.

Ramin Seyed Emami, son of Kavous Seyed Emami, told the campaign: "The fact that the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation is doing this at this time and on the eve of the announcement of the verdicts of the children who are in prison is to prepare the public's mind for the verdicts they are about to announce. There can be no other reason. They also want to justify my father's death in prison with accusations and lies such as espionage, but no matter what they do and no matter how many films they make, they cannot justify my father's death. Everyone who knew my father knows that none of these accusations and lies apply to my father."

Regarding the suspension of the program "The Usual Suspects" in the first minutes of its broadcast on the third channel of the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation, Mr. Seyed Emami told the campaign: "I think it is because there are still some elements within the government who knew my father well and know that the accusations of the children who are in prison are not true. Of course, they are trying to defend themselves, and that is why I think it was stopped. It is a kind of power struggle within the system, of which my father and the arrested activists are the victims."

Ramin Seyed Emami explained: "In the very minutes that it was broadcast, we saw images of Thomas Kaplan making speeches against Iran. This is despite the fact that in October 2017, the same time Kaplan gave a speech against Iran, my father and his team strongly protested in a letter to Luke Hunter, the head of the Pantera Institute, and also informed the Ministry of Intelligence."

This is not the first time that the IRIB has broadcast such programs. On February 16, 2017, the IRIB broadcast a documentary on the 20:30 news program that clearly disparaged the personality and activities of Kavous Seyyed Emami and called him a spy, effectively violating domestic and international laws regarding the principle of innocence and also violating individuals' privacy.

This video attempted to create a suspenseful and mysterious atmosphere around the activities of Kavoos Seyed Emami and the group of environmental activists by combining music and cinematic techniques. However, apart from publishing private family photos of Dr. Emami and images of internal meetings and the presence of environmental activists in nature, there is no further content to present and it does not provide any evidence to prove the commission of a crime.

The family and lawyers of Kavoos Seyed-Emami filed a complaint against the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation (IRBC) asking the authorities to be "accountable" about the cause of the late Emami's death instead of "creating a security vacuum and defaming his reputation." The complaint, Ramin Seyed-Emami told the campaign, has not been received.

Kavous Seyed Emami's son told the campaign: "Our complaint against the IRIB went nowhere. We knew it would go nowhere, and our complaint was more symbolic. We wanted to say that your evidence regarding the espionage accusation is the picture of my father petting his dogs or his fishing hook that you show in 2030, claiming that this is how he got in touch with Israel."

Kavous Seyed-Emami, a 64-year-old university professor and environmental activist, was arrested on February 24, 2017, in a newsless manner, by the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence agency, but on February 29, 2017, agents informed his family that he had committed suicide in prison. The IRGC agents did not allow Kavousi’s family to perform an independent autopsy, and the university professor was buried on February 15, amidst many questions and uncertainties from his family and the public, especially the Iranian academic community.

Sepideh Kashani, Niloufar Bayani, Amir Hossein Khaleghi, Hooman Jokar, Morad Tahbaz, Abdolreza Kouhpayeh, Sam Rajabi, and Taher Ghadirian are eight environmental defenders who were arrested by the IRGC Intelligence Service on February 24 and 25, 2017, and are now awaiting sentencing.

Apart from the IRIB’s action, Tehran Prosecutor Jafari Dolatabadi and Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei had previously called Seyyed Emami a spy in their press conferences. Announcing these accusations publicly before the trial is held violates the principle of innocence. Article 11, paragraph 1, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “Everyone charged with a criminal offense has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a public trial in which his full rights of self-defense are guaranteed.”

Using private and family photos of the accused and showing people who are not related to his charges, such as wedding photos or group photos, also violates Article 25 of the Constitution, which prohibits any surveillance. This article states: “The inspection and non-delivery of letters, the recording and disclosure of telephone conversations, the disclosure of telegraphic and telex communications, censorship, non-delivery of communications and non-delivery, wiretapping, and any surveillance are prohibited except by law.”

The accusation of espionage against environmentalists comes at a time when MP Mahmoud Sadeghi previously tweeted on April 8, 2018, about the statements made by the Minister of Information in Parliament, stating that the Minister of Information "clearly, with evidence, and documented that they have found no evidence of their espionage."

Issa Kalantari, head of the Environmental Protection Organization, has also repeatedly said that there is no evidence of espionage against environmental activists and that they should be released. On June 1, 2018, Kalantari said: "Based on the determination of the four-member committee of the government board, the arrested activists should be released because there is no evidence to prove the accusations made against these people."

The police station also emphasized on August 12, 2018, that there was no evidence against their espionage, saying: "But the judiciary has not yet clarified their duties and is telling us that it has nothing to do with you and that you should not pursue it."

So far, family members of the detained environmentalists have refused to speak to the media. However, informed sources have confirmed that interrogators used psychological and physical pressure to extract forced confessions during the investigation of this case. For example, Niloufar Bayani’s statements in her second court session about the threat of injections and torture that led to forced confessions provoked a widespread reaction among the public. Ms. Bayani was absent from the next court session, and the trial was held in her absence.

The families of the detainees have written to the head of the judiciary and other officials several times. In a letter written in July to Ebrahim Raisi, the families outlined the illegal acts inflicted on the eight environmentalists by the IRGC Intelligence Service and the judiciary since their arrest, including “pressure, intimidation, and torture” to force them to confess, the lack of the right to freely choose a lawyer, the lack of the right to a lawyer or to meet with any lawyer for one year after arrest, and the continuation of temporary detention beyond the legal period, the failure to transfer Niloufar Bayani to her second court session simply because she had told the judge in the first session about the pressure and torture she had been subjected to in order to confess, the transfer of all of them to unknown locations for questioning and answering, threats, and intimidation, and finally the failure to provide any documents or evidence from the prosecution and the IRGC Intelligence Service proving their guilt.

Source: Human Rights Campaign