Seyed Emami's Lawyers: We Will Sue the Officials of the TV Program

Simultaneously with the remarks of the head of the Tehran judiciary regarding the 'mentioning' of new individuals in the case of environmental activists, the lawyers for the family of Kavous Seyed Emami, an environmental activist who lost his life in prison, announced that they would sue the officials of a television program that accused the detained environmental activists of 'espionage.' According to reports, several environmental activists, including Kavous Seyed Emami, a university professor and Iranian-Canadian citizen, were arrested about a month ago. Mr. Seyed Emami died two weeks after his arrest in prison. The Tehran prosecutor and the spokesperson for the judiciary have accused Kavous Seyed Emami and the detained environmental activists of 'espionage.' These allegations have been made while the case is still under investigation, and judicial officials have previously stated that revealing details of a case that has not yet been finalized is against the law. Gholamhossein Esmaeili, the head of the Tehran judiciary, said in an interview with Mehr News Agency on Monday, February 19, that the case of the environmental activists is still in the prosecutor's office and has not been sent to court. He added, 'In this case, reports and issues have been raised that involve the names of other individuals besides those who were initially arrested. The investigator of the case is the decision-maker in this regard.' Earlier, Iran's state television aired a film titled 'Forbidden Zone' on Thursday evening, February 17, claiming that Mr. Seyed Emami and other detained environmental activists had engaged in 'espionage.' The film also claimed that cameras installed by these individuals to identify rare animal species in Iran were filming 'Iran's missile sites.' This comes as Isa Kalantari, the head of the Environmental Protection Organization, rejected the Tehran prosecutor's statements about the espionage of environmental activists with environmental cameras the day before, on February 18. Meanwhile, the lawyers for Kavous Seyed Emami's family issued a statement calling on officials to 'instead of creating a security atmosphere and defaming the deceased and hurting the emotions of his family, be accountable for their responsibility in the occurrence of this horrific event.' The statement emphasized that 'the production and airing of this film is against all ordinary laws and especially several principles of the constitution.' The lawyers announced that they would file a complaint against the officials of the television program '20:30' on behalf of the family of this environmental activist. According to this statement, the producers of this film attempted to distort his image due to 'the lack of substantiated evidence' by resorting to illegal methods and using family and private images of the deceased, some of which were from family gatherings and some based on the international standing of this esteemed researcher in other countries. The lawyers for Mr. Seyed Emami raised the question that if the claims of this film are true, that environmental activists were transferring Iran's missile information abroad, why have the security forces, who were aware of this issue, 'remained silent all these years?' The statement emphasized that 'the absence of a lawyer during the preliminary investigation stage, according to the limitations of Iranian laws, renders these investigations invalid.' Payam Darvishan and Arash Kikhavsari are the two lawyers for Kavous Seyed Emami's family. In the film aired by Iran's state television and also in the statements of Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran prosecutor, the detained individuals have been accused of seeking 'to create a crisis in some environmental areas of Iran.' The airing of this film has led to significant protests on social media, and among others, Mahmoud Sadeghi, a representative from Tehran in the parliament, sarcastically wrote on his Twitter: 'The state television has also blamed the drought and climate change in Iran on environmental spies.' Meanwhile, Mohammad Darvish, a faculty member of the Forest Research Institute, stated in an interview with Etemad Online that 'this delusional perspective is unworthy of state television.' He emphasized: 'The head of this organization should deal with those who prepare such reports because a bunch of lies is fed to the audience in the form of a few real images.' According to Mr. Darvish, if the claims of this film about creating a crisis by these environmental activists are true, 'we should witness improvement with the arrest of these individuals, meaning that the Urmia and Bakhtagan lakes should fill up, rainfall should occur, and rivers should flow.' Previously, Mohammad Reza Tabesh, the head of the Environmental Faction in parliament, and some academic associations have rejected the judiciary officials' statements about Mr. Seyed Emami's 'espionage,' with Mr. Tabesh stating that 'the detainees were not political and did not have access to classified information.' Mohammad Darvish also mentioned that after the arrest of environmental activists, 'a serious concern has arisen among all activists in the environmental field about what will happen to public participation in this area.' He added: 'Currently, social capital is declining, and if recent confrontations are not managed, they could destroy more social capital and significantly reduce people's willingness to participate effectively and voluntarily in the environmental field.' The film aired by Iranian television announced that eight environmental activists have been detained. So far, the identities of seven of the detained activists have been identified, and conflicting reports have also emerged regarding the arrest of Kaveh Madani, the deputy head of the Environmental Organization. According to reports, in addition to Kavous Seyed Emami, Hooman Jokar, the director of the Asiatic cheetah conservation project, Taher Ghaderian, Sam Rajabi, Amir Hossein Khalighi, and Niloufar Bayani, environmental activists, as well as Sepideh Kashani, the wife of Hooman Jokar and a former advisor to the UN Environment Program, have also been arrested.