Letter from Hundreds to the Head of the Judiciary: Environmental Detainees Were Protecting the Country's Nature

More than a thousand specialists and environmental activists have testified in a letter to the Head of the Judiciary that the detained environmental activists in Iran had 'no suspicious activities' and worked 'within the law, selflessly' to protect the country's nature. Eight wildlife experts and environmental activists, including Houman Jookar, the national project manager for the protection of the Asiatic cheetah, and Taher Ghaderian, a UNESCO laureate, were arrested last February on charges of 'espionage.' Meanwhile, the Ministry of Intelligence, as the authority on espionage, has repeatedly stated that these individuals are 'not spies.' Tehran's judiciary chief announced that the court for the imprisoned environmental activists will be held soon. However, for four of these activists, who have been in temporary detention by the IRGC Intelligence Organization for nine months, an indictment has been issued on charges of 'corruption on earth.' Following their continued detention and the escalation of charges against them, over a thousand environmental specialists, artists, and civil activists in Iran wrote to Sadegh Larijani stating that 'the detainees in question are among the most reputable environmental activists and experts who have always devoted their youth to the protection of Iran's biodiversity within the framework of the law, selflessly.' The signatories of this letter expressed concern over the passage of more than nine months since the temporary detention of these individuals, adding: 'We testify that during the years of professional activity of the detainees, we have not witnessed any suspicious activities from them other than efforts to serve the homeland and protect the nature of this land.' For this reason, they requested the Head of the Judiciary to conduct their trial 'with full transparency and respect for human dignity until all existing ambiguities are resolved, ensuring the right to defense and fair trial, and achieving moral satisfaction.' Gholamhossein Esmaeili, the head of the Tehran judiciary, announced on November 9 that the case of the imprisoned environmental activists has been sent to the Revolutionary Court, and a branch for its consideration has also been designated. Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, a lawyer for several of these prisoners, stated in an interview that the Tehran prosecutor changed the charge against five of these activists from 'espionage' to 'corruption on earth.' Following this, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran prosecutor, cited the elimination of 'deficiencies' in the case and 'completion of investigations' as the reason for the change in charges. The lawyer for Sam Rajabi, one of these five individuals, stated that his client has been acquitted of the charge of 'espionage.' Kavous Seyed Emami, a university professor and environmental activist who was arrested along with these eight individuals, died in prison, and his family rejected the judiciary's claim of his 'suicide' in prison. After the arrest of these environmental activists, the Islamic Republic's state television claimed that Mr. Seyed Emami and his colleagues used cheetah photography cameras to take pictures of IRGC missile sites and provided information about these sites to foreign intelligence agencies. Meanwhile, the Kalemeh website reported, rejecting the accusations made by the IRGC Intelligence Organization against the environmental activists, that 'most individuals in the espionage network' for Israel and the U.S. 'are affiliated with security institutions such as the IRGC and the Ministry of Intelligence, or have infiltrated appointed and higher institutions.' Earlier, the families of these eight individuals had written to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, requesting access to 'lawyers and conditions for a fair trial.'