Khamenei's involvement in the case of detained environmental activists

The environmental activists' case was referred to the Supreme National Security Council by order of the Leader of the Islamic Republic. Khamenei is said to have called for "consideration of the opinion of the Ministry of Intelligence" in the case, and the charge of "corruption on earth" has also been removed from the case.

Following the announcement that the charges of "land corruption" against some environmental activists had been dropped by a lawyer, a member of parliament announced yesterday that the Leader of the Islamic Republic had ordered the referral of the cases of these arrested activists to the Supreme National Security Council.

On Monday, October 14, Mohammad Reza Tabesh announced in an article in the Etemad newspaper that the environmental activists had been “removed from the charges of espionage,” and wrote: “In the case of environmental activists, there has been a disagreement from the very beginning between the Ministry of Intelligence, as the institution that detects the crime of espionage in the country, and the IRGC Intelligence Organization.”

"Removal of espionage charges"

The MP added: "Some of these responsible institutions, including the four-member special committee that was formed on the orders of the President in this regard, as well as some officials and environmental experts, have emphasized the removal of this accusation in numerous reports they have prepared and compiled regarding the areas of work of these dear people. In other words, these reports all support the removal of the spying accusation against these dear people."

Tabesh finally recalled that "at the same time, another important event that occurred during the investigation of this case and following the preparation of those reports was the referral of the case by the Supreme Leader's office to the Secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council and subsequently a meeting that we had with the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council; a meeting that practically revived the glimmer of hope in our hearts once again and gave us, public opinion, environmental activists, and other observers inside and outside the country hope that this case will ultimately end happily."

A day earlier, MP Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, a lawyer, had also said: "Four of the detained environmental activists were charged with corruption on earth, which has been dropped from them. Of course, the other charges still remain in effect."

This lawyer, who previously represented Sam Rajabi, one of the detained environmental activists, noted that "these defendants are represented by hired lawyers or lawyers who fall under the provisions of Article 48."

Paying attention to the “expert opinion of the Ministry of Intelligence”

At the same time as the announcement of Khamenei’s order to refer the case to the Supreme National Security Council, “a source familiar with the environmental activists’ case” also confirmed the news in an interview with the Human Rights Campaign in Iran, saying that the Leader of the Islamic Republic had called for consideration of “the expert opinion of the Ministry of Intelligence in this case.” This source also confirmed the news of “the removal of the charge of corruption on earth” for several environmental activists, and considered the removal of this charge to be the result of taking the opinion of the Ministry of Intelligence into account in this case.

According to this "informed source", the charge of corruption on earth, which was included in the case of some of these activists at the request of the former prosecutor of Tehran, was removed from the case after Khamenei ordered "to pay attention to the expert opinion of the Ministry of Intelligence", and "now both the prosecutor has changed and the expert opinion of the Ministry of Intelligence has been taken into account and this charge has been removed."

This "informed source" added: "After extensive follow-up by lawyers and families of imprisoned environmental activists, the leadership ordered to pay attention to the expert opinion of the Ministry of Intelligence in this case, and for this reason, the trial of these activists was suspended for a while and has now resumed."

The source told the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that he was unaware of the possible charges against these environmental activists, but "they are all accused of conspiracy and collusion with the intention of disrupting security. There have also been allegations of ties to the hostile US government and investigations into espionage, but the judge in the case has ruled that they are not guilty of espionage."

Sepideh Kashani, Niloufar Bayani, Amir Hossein Khaleghi, Hooman Jokar, Morad Tahbaz, Abdolreza Kohpayeh, Sam Rajabi, and Taher Ghadirian are eight environmental activists who were arrested by the IRGC’s Intelligence Service on February 25 and 26, 2017. Some of them were accused of espionage and four were charged with the serious charge of “corruption on earth.” Two court hearings were held for Niloufar Bayani and Morad Tahbaz in February 2018. However, Niloufar Bayani was not transferred to her second court hearing, and only her lawyer was present. Contrary to previous promises, the trial hearings were suspended and the trials of the remaining detainees were not held.

Trials to be held “within the next two weeks”

Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, a lawyer, told the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that Morad Tahbaz's trial was held last Saturday and "they have taken away his final defense" and that "the trial of the other activists will also be held within the next two weeks."

The Iranian judiciary has so far ignored the opinion and results of the investigations of the Supreme National Security Council, the Ministry of Intelligence, and the Iranian Environmental Organization regarding this case. Mahmoud Sadeghi, a representative from Tehran in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, wrote in a Twitter message on February 4, 2018: “According to the information received, the Supreme National Security Council, after an expert review of the case of the environmental defendants, has not recognized the defendants’ activities as an example of espionage.”

Issa Kalantari, head of Iran's Environmental Protection Organization, has also announced that, based on the determination of the four-member government committee, "the arrested activists should be released because there is no evidence to prove the accusations made against these individuals, and the Ministry of Intelligence has concluded that there is no evidence that these individuals are spies."

Previously, in addition to the Minister of Intelligence, a member of the presidential investigation committee in this case and the head of Iran's Environmental Protection Organization had emphasized the "innocence" of these individuals and had introduced the IRGC Intelligence Organization as responsible for the arrest of the environmental activists.

In June 2018, the former prosecutor of Tehran said that not only the head of the Environmental Protection Organization, but even the four-member presidential commission did not have the right to comment on or intervene in this case. Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi was dismissed from his position as Tehran prosecutor last May and appointed as the Supreme Advisor to the Judicial Court of Judges.

In February 2018, there were reports of mistreatment of imprisoned environmental activists, including solitary confinement and psychological torture, threats of injecting them with hallucinogenic drugs, and threats of arrest and murder of themselves or their family members. It was also reported that some of the detained activists had been beaten to extract forced confessions against themselves.

About two weeks after the environmental activists were arrested in February 2017, one of the detainees, Kavous Seyed Emami, died under suspicious circumstances in prison. Prison officials declared the cause of death of the environmental activist “suicide.” Mr. Seyed Emami’s family, however, has so far denied such a claim.

Source: DW