Sadeqi: The Supreme National Security Council Does Not Consider Environmental Activists as Spies

As the trial of eight environmental activists takes place, Mahmoud Sadeqi, a member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, wrote on his Twitter page on Sunday evening that the Supreme National Security Council has also "not identified the activities of the environmental defendants as espionage." The eight environmental activists, named Sam Rajabi, Amir Hossein Khalighi, Hooman Jokar, Sepideh Kashani, Niloufar Bayani, Taher Ghaderiyan, Abdolreza Kouhpayeh, and Morad Tahbaz, have been in "temporary detention" by the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for over a year. On Saturday, the second session of the trial of these eight individuals was held under the chairmanship of Judge Salavati, during which they were deprived of the right to choose their lawyers and were forced to accept lawyers appointed by the judiciary. Mahmoud Sadeqi's statements come as the Ministry of Intelligence had previously rejected the espionage charges against these environmental activists. However, Sam Rajabi's sister wrote on her Twitter page that Niloufar Bayani, one of the environmental defendants, stated in court on Saturday that she had confessed under pressure and threats from interrogators. The Khabar Online website also reported that for months, the death of Kavous Seyed Emami, a university professor and head of the Persian Wildlife Institute who died in the custody of the IRGC, had not been disclosed to these prisoners for further confession extraction. The IRGC declared his death a "suicide." While the government of Hassan Rouhani, including Isa Kalantari, head of the Department of Environment, claims that these individuals are not spies, the judiciary and the IRGC insist on their claims. According to Isa Kalantari, the cameras installed to monitor the Asiatic cheetahs in some places have a maximum range of 50 meters. Initially, the judiciary charged these environmental activists with "espionage for foreign entities," but a few months later, the charge of "corruption on earth" was raised against some of them, which can carry a death penalty. On the other hand, reports indicate the detention of Pouria Sepahvand, a wildlife expert at the Persian Heritage Institute, on Saturday, February 1, in Tehran. In this context, Sam Rajabi's sister requested the special rapporteur to intervene in her brother's case. Amnesty International named 2018 as the "year of shame" for the Iranian government. The trial session for the environmentalists was held "only with trusted lawyers" and the second session of the trial of the eight environmental activists was conducted without the presence of chosen lawyers.