Second Court Session for Eight Environmental Activists Held Without Their Chosen Lawyers

The second court session for eight environmental activists who have been imprisoned for over a year was held on Saturday, February 1, behind closed doors and without the presence of their chosen lawyers. According to reports from Iranian news agencies, the indictment against these prisoners is over 300 pages long, and a portion of it was read during Saturday's court session. The date for the next court session has not been announced. IRNA news agency reported that, as in the first court session, three lawyers 'trusted by the judiciary' who are retired judges were present. These lawyers were identified as Kazem Hosseini, Reza Jafari, and an individual with the surname Beigi. Meanwhile, Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, the lawyer for Sam Rajabi, stated in an interview with Radio Farda that he was not invited to the second court session. Additionally, Sam Rajabi's sister criticized Kazem Hosseini's statement, one of the 'trusted' lawyers, claiming that the defendants' lawyers were present at the court session. Katayoun Rajabi tweeted that her brother's lawyer was not present. The presence of the judiciary's trusted lawyers at the court session and the absence of the chosen lawyers comes despite previous statements from the head and other officials of the judiciary indicating that these lawyers are only allowed to be present during the interrogation phase, and political and security defendants can introduce their preferred lawyers for court. A few months ago, the Iranian judiciary announced a list of 'approved lawyers' to the public prosecutors, stating that defendants in political and security cases can only choose lawyers from this list. It was previously reported that Abolqasem Salavati, the judge in the case of the eight environmental activists, had asked Sam Rajabi to dismiss his lawyer, Mohammad Hossein Aghasi. Sam Rajabi's sister also reported on Twitter that Niloufar Bayani, one of the eight imprisoned environmental activists, stated in court on Saturday that she confessed under pressure and due to threats from interrogators. The eight environmental activists, named Sam Rajabi, Amir Hossein Khaleghi, Hooman Jokar, Sepideh Kashani, Niloufar Bayani, Taher Ghaderian, Abdolreza Kouhpayeh, and Morad Tahbaz, have been in 'temporary detention' by the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for over a year. Initially, the Iranian judiciary charged them with 'espionage for foreigners,' but months later, the charge of 'corruption on earth' was raised against some of them, which could carry the death penalty. The espionage charges against these activists come despite the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, as the authority to determine such matters, repeatedly rejecting and deeming these accusations unfounded. These individuals were arrested shortly after the detention of Kavous Seyed-Emami, a university professor and head of the Persian Wildlife Institute. Iranian judicial officials have declared that Mr. Seyed-Emami's cause of death in prison was '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 'lawfully, without pay and expectation.' The Hamshahri newspaper also reported in December that 72 professors, specialists, and environmental activists requested permission from the Tehran governor's office to hold a gathering in support of the imprisoned environmental activists.