Exclusive; Continued Arrests Related to the Drying of Lake Urmia on Charges of Conspiracy and Gathering

With the continued detention of several civil activists related to the drying of Lake Urmia since late September, a lawyer told Voice of America that the judiciary has formed a joint case for 13 of the detainees, and on Tuesday, a protesting rapper was also arrested for supporting them. Sina Yousefi, a lawyer, stated in an interview with the Persian section of Voice of America that extensive arrests were made in various cities of Azerbaijan, including Tabriz, regarding the 'deliberate drying' of Lake Urmia. He mentioned that the detained civil activists have been charged with 'forming a group' and 'gathering and conspiracy.' According to the report, the 13 detained civil activists include Hamed Yaghaipour, Nasser Razmjou, Morteza Nourmohammadi, Hossein Azadi, Ali Babaei, Mohammad Reza Movahed, Yurosh (Ayat) Mehrali Beigloo, Araz Ebrahimnejad, Javad Soodbar, Ebrahim Avazadeh, Davood Shiri, Mehrdad Ghaderi, and Amir Hossein Aghaei, for whom a joint case has been formed. Additionally, Milad Jalili, a protesting rapper known as 'Ilshan,' who sang a song in support of these civil activists, was arrested on Tuesday, December 7, in Tabriz. According to Sina Yousefi, most of the arrests are residents of Tabriz, but others have also been detained and transferred to the Tabriz Intelligence Office. This lawyer announced that these arrests are 'related to protests regarding the deliberate drying of Lake Urmia,' stating: 'However, the charges against them are forming a group and gathering and conspiracy to commit a crime, which has been established in Branch 15 of the investigative court. However, the case has not been registered in this branch, and no accurate information is provided to families upon their inquiries.' Sina Yousefi emphasized: 'Even the prosecutor and the investigator have threatened families for pursuing the case and seeking information about the status of the detainees.' According to the report, in the past three days, five of the detainees, including Morteza Nourmohammadi, Mehrdad Ghaderi, Hossein Azadi, Hamed Yaghaipour, and Amir Hossein Aghaei, have been released on bail, but the remaining detainees have been held in the Tabriz Intelligence Office for over 80 days. Sina Yousefi stressed that there is 'no news about the status' of some detainees, adding that 'some detainees were allowed to contact their families in the early days, but Ali Babaei, one of the detainees, has not had any contact with his family for two months, and his family is worried about his mental and physical condition.' This lawyer emphasized the legality of the right to protest for citizens, stating: 'Whether environmental or other civil rights protests, according to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic in Article 27, if it does not disrupt Islamic principles, it is free. That means it does not require a permit.' Nevertheless, according to Yousefi, since 2010, with the onset of the drying of Lake Urmia and the beginning of protests against it, 'extensive arrests have been made in this regard in Azerbaijan, and it can be said that many political and civil activists have a record related to the protests regarding Lake Urmia. In other words, protesting the drying of Lake Urmia has led to criminal records for many individuals in Azerbaijan.' Lake Urmia is a saline lake in northwestern Iran, the largest inland lake in the country, which has been drying up since the late 2000s. Many experts attribute the drying of Lake Urmia to the environmental policies of the Islamic Republic. As Mahdi Khatabchi, a water expert, previously told Voice of America, this lake has become a victim of mismanagement and false government statistics.