Security Forces Raid the Home of Kavous Seyed-Emami

Mahmoud Sadeghi, a member of parliament, reported the 'raid' by security forces on the home of Kavous Seyed-Emami, a professor at Imam Sadiq University who died in prison, for the purpose of 'filming for a movie.' Several environmental activists, including Kavous Seyed-Emami, a dual Iranian-Canadian citizen, professor at Imam Sadiq University, and director of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Institute, were arrested last February on charges of 'espionage.' Two weeks after Kavous Seyed-Emami's arrest, on February 21, his family was informed that he had 'committed suicide' in prison. Meanwhile, Amnesty International has deemed the 'prevention of independent investigations' into Seyed-Emami's 'very suspicious death' a sign of a 'deliberate and planned effort to conceal any evidence of torture and murder.' Sadeghi reported the 'raid' on Seyed-Emami's home based on information from his son and lawyer, noting that this incident occurred on Tuesday night (July 4) coinciding with the Iran vs. Portugal match. According to his tweet, 'a large number of security agents... took several large boxes into Seyed-Emami's house, claiming they had permission from the Tehran prosecutor to film a movie titled 'Descent.' Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran prosecutor, commented on Sadeghi's tweet about the raid, stating, 'I don't know; I didn't hear about the box, but there must be legal permission for the work done.' Concurrently with the Iran vs. Portugal match, Ramin Seyed-Emami, Kavous Seyed-Emami's son, reported on his personal Instagram page that '20 agents of security forces' had raided their home while bringing 'six large boxes.' He stated that they 'did not allow anyone to witness their activities' and took the boxes to the 'basement' of his father's house. Seyed-Emami's son wrote that their lawyer was present at the door but was not allowed to enter. He also reported that his mother, Maryam Momeni, who had recently been discharged from the hospital, was hospitalized again following 'interrogations in front of the agents' cameras.' He added that his mother had been 'interrogated for more than four hours in an unknown location' on the preceding Sunday. Last March, when Maryam Momeni, Kavous Seyed-Emami's wife, and their two sons attempted to leave Iran for Canada, she was prevented from exiting at the airport. On June 30 of this year, the family's lawyer stated that the forensic medicine department had announced its final opinion on the cause of Kavous Seyed-Emami's death in prison. Payam Darvishan reported that the final forensic report indicated the presence of 'bruising around his neck.' This lawyer added that the forensic report stated the cause of death was 'asphyxiation and pressure on the neck.' Despite judicial officials emphasizing Seyed-Emami's 'suicide' in prison, the family's lawyer stated that in the video shown to them, 'the camera does not show the part where the death occurred.' Payam Darvishan responded to the question of whether the prosecutor's office was supposed to show another video of Seyed-Emami's suicide to his family, saying, 'We have followed up on this issue several times with the prosecutor's office, but no other video has been shown to us yet.' After the arrest of these environmental activists, the Islamic Republic's state television claimed that Mr. Seyed-Emami and his colleagues had 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 Iran's Environmental Protection Organization, dismissed this accusation, stating that these cameras can only capture images of a limited area around them. Payam Darvishan, in an interview with Radio Farda, identified the complainant against these activists as the IRGC's intelligence organization. The emphasis by the IRGC and judicial officials on the charge of 'espionage' against dozens of environmental activists currently detained in various parts of Iran comes as the Ministry of Intelligence denies these accusations. In this context, the lawyer for Kavous Seyed-Emami's family reported the forensic medicine's opinion on the cause of his death. Two human rights activists stated that solitary confinement of dervishes and environmental activists constitutes torture. The Iranian Vice President stated that imprisoned environmental activists will be released soon.