Lawyer of Seyed Emami: Two of the defendants in the environmental activists' case have been released

ISNA reported that Payam Darvishan, the lawyer representing several detained environmental activists, announced that two of the detainees have been released on bail. Mr. Darvishan mentioned this in an interview with ISNA on Tuesday, stating that he heard about the release of these two environmental activists during a call with their families, without providing further details. In Bahman and Esfand of last year, the arrest of seven environmental activists initiated a project that led to the subsequent detention of several other environmentalists one after another. The scope of the arrests extended until Ordibehesht of this year, with Azar Sadaqati, one of the environmental activists, reporting on her personal Instagram about the arrest of around 40 local individuals, environmental activists, and two rangers in Bandar Lengeh in Hormozgan province. Following this, Mojgan Jamshidi, an environmental journalist and activist, announced on Twitter that the total number of detained environmental activists had reached 55. In the ISNA report on Tuesday, Payam Darvishan also stated that 20 more environmental activists have been arrested in southern Iran. However, it is unclear whether this group is among those previously detained or if ISNA's report refers to a new group of environmental activists. Additionally, since the names and details of the detainees and the reasons for their arrests are not clear, and families of these detainees are either unwilling to discuss their situation or are under pressure from security and intelligence agencies, it is uncertain how many of these individuals have been released and how many environmental activists remain in detention. Hooman Jookar, Amir Hossein Khaleghi, Sam Rajabi, Taher Ghadiyan, Niloufar Bayani, Sepideh Kashani, Morad Tahbaz, Kavous Seyed Emami, Hassan Ragh, Aref Zare, Mohammad Zare, and Abdolreza Koohpayeh are among those detained in Bahman and Esfand of 1396 (2018). Some of the detainees from last winter were officials and colleagues of the Persian Wildlife Institute, while others collaborated with the Lorestan Nature Guardians Institute. Two weeks after the arrest of Kavous Seyed Emami, a dual Iranian-Canadian citizen, Imam Sadiq University professor, and director of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Institute, his family was informed that he had 'committed suicide' in prison. In Esfand of last year, when Maryam Mombini, the wife of Kavous Seyed Emami, and their two sons attempted to leave Iran for Canada, she was prevented from exiting at the airport. Payam Darvishan, the lawyer for Kavous Seyed Emami's family, also provided details of his efforts to lift the travel ban on Maryam Mombini, stating that the first investigative branch announced that there was no mention of her name in the case and that there was no order or documentation regarding her travel ban. Payam Darvishan, citing Naseri, the head of the prosecutor's office, reported that 'the issuing authority for the travel ban on Ms. Mombini is unclear.' Recently, Maryam Mombini was hospitalized due to what her child described as 'mental instability.' While judicial officials, including the Deputy of the Judiciary and the Prosecutor of Tehran, have accused Kavous Seyed Emami and other detained environmental activists of 'espionage,' Mahmoud Sadeghi, a member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, stated that experts from the Ministry of Intelligence found no evidence to support the 'espionage' claims against these individuals. Payam Darvishan, the lawyer for the Seyed Emami family, referred to statements by Mahmoud Alavi, the Iranian Minister of Intelligence, who stated, 'He announced in the name of the responsible and Minister of Intelligence of the country that these individuals are not spies, but I do not know why they are still in detention.' After the arrest of these environmental activists, the Islamic Republic's state television claimed that Mr. Seyed Emami and his colleagues used cameras for photographing cheetahs to capture images of IRGC missile sites and provided information about these sites to foreign intelligence agencies. Isa Kalantari, the head of the Environmental Protection Organization, dismissed this accusation, stating that these cameras are only capable of capturing images of a limited area around them. Fatemeh Zolghadr, a member of the Environmental Faction of the Parliament, reported in Esfand of last year that Isa Kalantari, the head of the Environmental Organization, promised to follow up on the situation of the detained environmental activists, but it is unclear what results these follow-ups have yielded. The detention of environmental activists and the suspicious death of Mr. Seyed Emami in custody has drawn criticism both inside and outside Iran, including calls from United Nations officials for Iran to respect environmental activists.