Revolutionary Court Pressures Environmental Activists to Change Defense Attorneys

Reports from Iran indicate that the Revolutionary Court is exerting 'pressure' on several environmental activists involved in a case to change their defense attorneys. Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, the lawyer for two of the activists, told the IRNA news agency that Judge Salavati has informed Sam Rajabi and Taher Ghadiyan, his clients, that they must 'change' their lawyer. According to Aghasi, on Tuesday, three defendants in the so-called environmentalists' case, including Rajabi and Ghadiyan, were summoned to Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, where the indictment issued by the prosecutor's office was presented to them. This attorney added that Judge Salavati requested Rajabi and Ghadiyan to introduce their lawyers, and when they stated that he was representing them, the judge rejected this and demanded they introduce another lawyer. Aghasi protested this request, noting that it came despite Gholamhossein Mohseni Eje'i, the spokesman for the judiciary, stating that 'the provision of Article 48 of the Criminal Procedure Code is only applicable at the prosecutor's stage, and security defendants can choose their preferred lawyer at the court stage.' After the charge of 'corruption on earth' was raised against five of the defendants in this case, Aghasi mentioned that even though these individuals had 'chosen lawyers,' they were assigned 'court-appointed lawyers.' A few months ago, the Iranian judiciary announced a list of 'approved lawyers' to the prosecutor's offices, stating that defendants in political and security cases could only choose lawyers from this list. The issuance of this list faced backlash from many independent lawyers, but it seems that, according to Aghasi's account of Salavati's request from Rajabi and Ghadiyan, the judiciary continues to insist on enforcing this directive. Eight environmental activists named Sam Rajabi, Amir Hossein Khaleghi, Hooman Jokar, Sepideh Kashani, Niloufar Bayani, Taher Ghadiyan, Abdolreza Kouhpayeh, and Morad Tahbaz have been in 'temporary detention' by the IRGC Intelligence Organization for over 11 months. Initially, the judiciary of the Islamic Republic charged them with 'spying for foreigners,' but months later, the charge of 'corruption on earth' was raised against some of them, which could carry the death penalty. The charge of 'spying' was made against them while the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, as the authority on this matter, has repeatedly denied this accusation and deemed it unfounded. These individuals were arrested shortly after the detention of Kavous Seyed Emami, a university professor and head of the Persian Wildlife Institute. Judicial officials of the Islamic Republic claim that Mr. Seyed Emami died in prison due to 'suicide,' a claim rejected by his family. On November 21 of this year, over a thousand specialists and environmental activists testified in a letter to Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judiciary, that the detained environmental activists in Iran had 'no suspicious activities' and had protected the country's nature 'within the framework of the law, without any payment or expectation.' The Hamshahri newspaper also reported in Azar that 72 professors, specialists, and environmental activists requested a permit from the Tehran governorate to hold a rally in support of the imprisoned environmental activists. Earlier, the families of these eight individuals had written a letter to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, requesting access for them to 'lawyers and fair trial conditions.' Meanwhile, the Iranian judiciary continues to insist that the detainees are 'agents of enemy infiltration' and that 'complete evidence of their infiltration is available'; however, this 'evidence' has not been presented so far.