Isa Kalantari's Ignorance About the Fate of Detained Environmental Activists

Isa Kalantari, the head of Iran's Department of Environment, stated on Saturday, March 16, during his end-of-year press conference, that regarding the detained environmental activists, "we do not have accurate information either." He also commented on the part of the government that has arrested environmental activists and does not provide transparency about these arrests, saying, "Unfortunately, one side has power and is not willing to engage in dialogue." He added, "The President has assigned a four-member group to follow up on this issue, and we have as much information as you do. We hope that the situation will be resolved soon. If there is indeed a culprit among them, it should be identified quickly, and the rest should be released." Currently, Houman Jokar, the manager of the Asiatic Cheetah Conservation Project, Taher Ghadirian, Sam Rajabi, Amir Hossein Khalighi, and Niloufar Bayani, environmental activists, along with Sepideh Kashani, Houman Jokar's wife and a former advisor to the UN Environment Program, are detained on charges of "espionage." Another detainee, Kavous Seyed Emami, an Iranian-Canadian citizen, university professor, and environmental activist, died in prison two weeks after his arrest. Additionally, the Tabnak website reported that three members of the "Nature Guardians of Lavardin" organization in Hormozgan were arrested in late February by "a security agency" in Bandar Lengeh and transferred to an unknown location without being informed of their charges. No further news has been published regarding their status. In the ongoing trend of detaining environmental activists, Hassan Ragh, Aref Zare, Hassan Zare, Abdolreza Koohpayeh, and Alireza Farahzadeh have also been arrested in recent weeks. Other reports from March 13 indicate that the families of the detained environmental activists visited Evin Prison but were told that the detainees remain "forbidden from visitation and the interrogation period has been extended until April 24." According to the Mehr News Agency, Isa Kalantari, in response to a journalist's question about the status and reason for the detention of Houman Jokar, stated that "the cheetah project has not been halted for this reason." In response to the question of "why an environmental activist faces the fate of Houman Jokar while the head of the Department of Environment says we have no information," he said, "I completely accept your statements. The events that occur are partly due to the fact that we want to assert our rights with very little information." He continued, "The President has assigned four of his ministers to follow up on the case, but has it reached any conclusion? I really cannot say whether they are guilty or not. Mr. Houman Jokar, whom I have seen a few times, does not seem to have any initial political information, and our cameras cannot distinguish between a cheetah and a camel from a distance of twenty meters." He emphasized, "Unfortunately, one side has power and is not willing to engage in dialogue, and we endure their pressures. The issue of water is not a hidden matter. The Minister of Intelligence said they were providing water information to America. I said this cannot be true because I was getting precise information about Lake Urmia from an American university! I really do not know and cannot comment, and besides Houman Jokar, I do not know the others personally." Previously, the UN Environment Chief had also urged the Iranian government to respect the activities of environmental advocates, a request that was met with a harsh response from the Iranian judiciary. The Iranian judiciary objected to the UN Environment Chief's statement regarding the death of Kavous Seyed Emami and, without explaining the details of this environmental activist's death, accused the U.S. of using "cover" for environmentalism to justify "military incursions and terrorist actions" against Iran. Iranian officials have accused environmental activists detained by security forces of espionage. Even Hassan Firouzabadi, a senior military advisor to the Iranian leader, has gone further, stating that every environmental activist and agricultural scientist "could be" a spy. He explained that these individuals might want to "determine through the skins of desert animals where we have uranium mines and where we are working on nuclear activities." However, UN human rights experts have rejected such claims and called for the "immediate release" of environmental activists and the lifting of charges against them.