Tehran Judiciary Chief: Court for Imprisoned Environmental Activists to Be Held Soon

The head of the Tehran judiciary announced that the case of imprisoned environmental activists has been sent to the Revolutionary Court, and a branch has been designated to handle it. Gholamhossein Esmaeili stated in an interview with Mehr News Agency on Friday, November 9, that the court for these individuals will be held "soon." He also mentioned that the exact date for the court session has not yet been determined. However, Esmaeili did not specify which branch of the Tehran Revolutionary Court will handle this case. Previously, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesperson for the judiciary, had reported that an indictment had been issued for five of the prisoners in this case, and it has been referred to the court for consideration. On Sunday, October 21, Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, the lawyer for several of these prisoners, stated in an interview with Radio Farda that the Tehran prosecutor changed the charges against five of these activists from "espionage" to "corruption on earth." Following this, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the Tehran prosecutor, explained that the change in charges was due to the rectification of "deficiencies" in the case and the "completion of investigations." Mohammad Reza Tabesh, head of the Environmental Protection faction in Parliament, expressed surprise at the change in charges against the detained environmental activists. Eight environmental activists named Sam Rajabi, Amir Hossein 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 nearly nine months. Kavous Seyed Emami, a university professor and environmental activist who was arrested along with these eight, died in prison, and his family has strongly rejected the judiciary's claim that he committed "suicide" in prison. Meanwhile, Amnesty International has stated that the "prevention of independent investigations" into Seyed Emami's "very suspicious death" is indicative of a "deliberate and planned effort to conceal any evidence of torture and murder." Following the arrest of these environmental activists, the Islamic Republic's state television claimed that Mr. Seyed Emami and his colleagues used cameras for photographing cheetahs to take pictures of IRGC missile sites and provided information about these sites to foreign intelligence agencies. Isa Kalantari, head of Iran's Environmental Protection Organization, dismissed this accusation, stating that these cameras are only capable of capturing images of a limited area around them. Meanwhile, the Kalemeh website reported on Wednesday, while rejecting the accusations made by the IRGC's Intelligence Organization against the environmental activists, that "most individuals in the espionage network" for Israel and the U.S. are "affiliated with security institutions such as the IRGC and the Ministry of Intelligence, or have infiltrated appointed and higher institutions." According to this report, a couple who were members of the IRGC and were recently arrested "had provided information about Iran's missile capabilities, launch pads, and precise maps and calculations of Shahab missiles to the CIA for three years." The report also states that "relatives of this couple are also from high-ranking IRGC intelligence ranks" and "other individuals related to several prominent figures in various appointed institutions (under the leadership of the Supreme Leader) have also been arrested." In recent years, reports have emerged regarding the arrest of some Iranian security officials on charges of espionage for Israel. For instance, Reza Alijani, a national-religious activist, stated in an interview with Radio Farda that two officials responsible for the Israel desk at the Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC Intelligence Organization were arrested and executed on charges of espionage for Israel.