Sister of Sam Rajabi Appeals to UN Special Rapporteur to Investigate Her Brother's Case

While the spokesperson for the judiciary cited the lack of a lawyer introduced by the environmental activists as the reason for not scheduling a court date, Sam Rajabi's sister pointed out the pressure from the judge to dismiss the lawyers of two of them and requested the UN special rapporteur to follow up on her brother's case. According to Tasnim News Agency, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei stated on Sunday, January 6, that the case of eight environmental activists has gone to court but no date has been set yet. He explained that the reason for not scheduling a date for the court proceedings is that 'lawyers must come and read the case unless the defendants explicitly state that they do not want a lawyer or do not have one; if they clearly say so, the court will appoint a lawyer for them.' The judiciary spokesperson noted that 'some of them, due to the nature of their indictment which could lead to capital punishment, must have a lawyer.' Ejei's remarks come after Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, the lawyer for two of the environmental activists, stated that Salavati, the judge of the Revolutionary Court, told Sam Rajabi and Taher Ghaderian that they must 'change' their lawyer. After the charge of 'corruption on earth' was raised against five of the defendants, Aghasi mentioned that despite having 'chosen lawyers,' 'appointed lawyers' were assigned to these individuals. A few months ago, the Iranian judiciary announced a list of 'approved lawyers' to the courts, stating that defendants in political and security cases can only choose lawyers from this list. Meanwhile, Katayoun Rajabi, Sam Rajabi's sister, wrote in a letter to Javaid Rehman, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran, that all follow-ups regarding her brother's case have been 'fruitless.' She requested Rehman to 'engage with Iranian officials' regarding the violation of her brother's civil rights. Katayoun Rajabi stated that a dismissal order was issued for her brother concerning the charge of 'espionage and participation in espionage,' and he is now facing the charge of 'gathering and colluding to commit a crime against national security.' The eight environmental activists named Sam Rajabi, Amirhossein Khalighi, 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 about a year. Kavous Seyed Emami, a university professor who was also arrested in this case, died in prison, with judiciary officials declaring the cause of death as 'suicide.' Initially, the Islamic Republic's judiciary had charged them with 'espionage for foreigners,' but months later, the charge of 'corruption on earth' was raised against some of them, which could result in a death sentence. The charge of 'espionage' against them comes despite the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, as the authority to determine this matter, repeatedly rejecting the accusation and deeming it unfounded. On November 12 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 pay and favor.'