Threats to the Environment Organization by Influential Land Grabbers

The head of Iran's Environment Organization emphasized the seriousness of combating the seizure of national lands, reporting threats to the organization from "influential land grabbers." Masoumeh Ebtekar, president of Iran's Environmental Protection Organization, appeared on a television program on Sunday night, December 22, discussing the organization's actions against land grabbing, mountain grabbing, and the seizure of national lands. She stated, "We have been threatened many times by various individuals who have personal interests and are influential, but the Environmental Protection Organization does not retreat in the face of threats." According to Ebtekar, "Despite all the threats," a significant portion of illegal seizures in "Miankaleh, which is considered one of the valuable peninsulas on the coast of Mazandaran province," was returned to the Environmental Protection Organization in 2013. The head of the Environment Organization added that many illegal land seizures in the protected area of Varjin in the Lavasanat region were resolved with the good cooperation of judicial authorities, and extensive seizures have also been resolved in other provinces such as Fars and Hormozgan. In recent months, a billion-dollar land grabbing case in "Gerdakhe Hiran" in Gilan province made headlines, prompting the first vice president, Hassan Rouhani, to issue a "special order" for addressing this case. Regarding the details of this case, Zero Naeimi-Raz, a representative from Astara in the parliament, stated in an interview published on August 22 in the newspaper "Aftab Yazd" that "most of these land grabs began during the tenure of one of the parliament representatives and subsequently involved former government officials (ninth and tenth administrations) through this representative in Gerdakhe Hiran." According to this parliament member, "It is likely that some responsible individuals in this area are also land grabbers themselves, but they have registered the lands under various names, such as their children, spouses, or relatives." On the other hand, Ezzatollah Youssefian-Malla, a parliamentary observer in the Economic Corruption Combat Headquarters, stated in August that "some officials have identified pleasant climate areas in the country and are attempting to seize them," adding, "In certain periods, attention was directed towards Kelardasht, but today it seems everyone is heading towards Gerdakhe Hiran." Following the media coverage of this extensive land grabbing case, in September, Es'hagh Jahangiri, the first vice president of Hassan Rouhani, issued a "special order" to three ministers of roads, interior, and agriculture, as well as the head of the Housing Foundation and the governor of Gilan to address this violation. However, Gholamhossein Mohseni Eje'i, the spokesperson for the judiciary, stated on Sunday, December 22, regarding the latest status of the land grabbing case in Gerdakhe Hiran that "no one has been arrested yet, but the case is under investigation to determine who has committed violations and who has committed crimes." Previously, Mahmoud Reisi, the Attorney General of Iran, stated that "18,000 land grabbing cases have been filed in the judiciary, and so far, 40,000 hectares of national lands that were seized in the country have been returned." These statements from the judicial authority came as Ezzatollah Khan-Mohammadi, the governor of Shahr-e Kord, assessed the pursuit of land grabbing cases as weak. According to the governor of Shahr-e Kord, "30 hectares of Shahr-e Kord lands" have been seized by "big shots," and "814 hectares of land" have also been seized by "armed forces" with barbed wire surrounding them. However, after reports in the media about the cases of "land grabbing," "mountain grabbing," "sea grabbing," and "river grabbing," the newspaper Arman reported in its September 21 issue about the appropriation of part of the central desert of Iran, stating, "It is now the turn of desert grabbing." The latest reaction to the seizure of national lands in Iran came from Mohammad Marzieh, the public prosecutor of Zahedan, who reported several cases of "sea grabbing and encroachment on coastal boundaries in Chabahar." In this context, the spokesperson for the 90th Article Commission stated that Tehran has the highest statistics for land grabbing, while desert grabbing is on the rise in Iran, and a warning was issued by the prosecutor's office regarding land grabbing in northern Tehran. After land grabbing and mountain grabbing, "it is now the turn of desert grabbing."