{"id":1091,"date":"2019-03-06T05:59:37","date_gmt":"2019-03-06T05:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/codir.net\/?p=1091"},"modified":"2019-03-06T05:59:37","modified_gmt":"2019-03-06T05:59:37","slug":"iran-release-eight-wildlife-conservationists-following-unfair-trial-on-trumped-up-spying-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/codir.net\/?p=1091","title":{"rendered":"Iran: Release eight wildlife conservationists following unfair trial on trumped-up spying charges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>5 March 2019, 16:51 UTC<\/p>\n<p>Wildlife conservationists in Iran who have been accused of espionage after using cameras to track endangered species could face the death penalty or more than a decade in prison, said Amnesty International, ahead of a verdict in their case in the coming days.<\/p>\n<p>The eight scientists, who are linked to the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, were arrested at the end of January 2018. They had been conducting research into Iran\u2019s endangered animals, including the Asiatic cheetah and Persian leopard. There is evidence that they were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment including through prolonged solitary confinement in order to extract forced \u201cconfessions\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProtecting endangered wildlife is not a crime. These conservationists are scientists who were carrying out legitimate research. It is absurd that they have been prosecuted without any evidence and are being treated as criminals,\u201d said Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Research and Advocacy Director at Amnesty International.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIran\u2019s authorities should release them immediately and unconditionally and drop the outrageous espionage-related charges against them.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"quote\" data-scenario=\"quote_text\">\n<div class=\"quote__text\" data-utm-term=\"UHJvdGVjdG\">Protecting endangered wildlife is not a crime. These conservationists are scientists who were carrying out legitimate research<\/div>\n<footer class=\"quote__source\" data-scenario=\"quote_author\">Philip Luther, MENA Research and Advocacy Director at Amnesty International<\/footer>\n<\/blockquote>\n<aside class=\"share share--quote print-hidden\">\n<div class=\"share__cell\">\n<p>The authorities have accused the conservationists of using scientific and environmental projects, such as tracking the Asiatic cheetah with cameras, as a cover to collect classified military information. The use of cameras is a standard tool used by conservationists to monitor rare and endangered species.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<aside class=\"share share--quote print-hidden\">\n<div class=\"share__cell\">\n<p>\u00a0The eight conservationists are among nine scientists who were arrested by the Revolutionary Guards on 24 and 25 January 2018. One of them, Kavous Seyed-Emami, a Canadian-Iranian scientist and academic, died under suspicious circumstances in Evin prison two weeks after his arrest. The authorities claimed that he had committed suicide and refused to release his body unless his family agreed to an immediate burial without an independent autopsy. Amnesty International has previously called on the Iranian authorities to conduct an impartial investigation into his death.<\/p>\n<p>In October 2018, the conservationists were formally charged. Four of them, Niloufar Bayani, Houman Jowkar, Morad Tahbaz and Taher Ghadirian, were charged with \u201ccorruption on earth\u201d (<em>efsad f\u2019il arz<\/em>) and could be sentenced to death.<\/p>\n<p>Three others, Amirhossein Khaleghi, Sepideh Kashani and Abdolreza Kouhpayeh, were charged with espionage and if convicted could face up to 10 years in prison. One other, Sam Rajabi, was charged with \u201cco-operating with hostile states against the Islamic Republic\u201d and \u201cgathering and colluding to commit crimes against national security\u201d. He could face up to 11 years in prison.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<aside class=\"share share--quote print-hidden\">\n<div class=\"share__cell\">\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"quote__text\" data-utm-term=\"VGhlIGNoYX\">The charges against these scientists are utterly baseless and stem solely from their peaceful conservation activities. If they are convicted it would be an outrageous mockery of justice and a devastating blow for Iran\u2019s scientific community<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<blockquote class=\"quote\" data-scenario=\"quote_text\">\n<aside class=\"share share--quote print-hidden\">\n<div class=\"share__cell\">\n<blockquote class=\"quote\" data-scenario=\"quote_text\">\n<footer class=\"quote__source\" data-scenario=\"quote_author\">Philip Luther<\/footer>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/blockquote>\n<aside class=\"share share--quote print-hidden\">\n<div class=\"share__cell\">\n<footer data-scenario=\"quote_author\">\u00a0\u201cThe charges against these scientists are utterly baseless and stem solely from their peaceful conservation activities. If they are convicted it would be an outrageous mockery of justice and a devastating blow for Iran\u2019s scientific community,\u201d said Philip Luther.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fact that Iran\u2019s authorities are harassing and intimidating wildlife conservationists with fabricated charges is another chilling example of how peaceful activities are considered \u2018criminal\u2019 by the Iranian authorities. The international community must speak out to call for these scientists\u2019 immediate release.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Evidence of torture and unfair trial<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The eight scientists\u2019 closed trial before Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran began on 30 January 2019 and was grossly unfair. Following their arrests, the conservationists were held incommunicado in Section 2-A of Evin prison, under the control of the Revolutionary Guards, without access to a lawyer and with very limited family contact.<\/p>\n<p>According to reliable sources, during one family prison visit, some of the conservationists displayed signs of physical torture, with broken teeth and bruising on their bodies.<\/p>\n<p>According to reliable sources, the court has relied almost entirely on \u201cconfessions\u201d allegedly made under torture by the defendants, and later retracted, as the main evidence against them.<\/p>\n<p>Niloufar Bayani told the court that she only made a \u201cconfession\u201d after she was \u201cbroken\u201d through physical and psychological torture and that she later retracted her \u201cconfession\u201d. She said interrogators threatened to beat her, inject her with hallucinogenic drugs, pull out her fingernails and arrest her parents; they also showed her a piece of paper saying it was her death sentence and pictures of the dead body of Kavous Seyed-Emami, implying that she would meet a similar fate.<\/p>\n<p>During one of the trial sessions, the judge told her to leave the courtroom for being \u201ctoo disruptive\u201d after she repeatedly objected to the fact that her retracted forced \u201cconfessions\u201d were being used against her and the other conservationists. Consequently, she was not allowed to appear in court for the final three trial sessions.<\/p>\n<p>Amnesty International is unaware of any investigation carried out into the allegations of torture and other ill-treatment.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"quote__text\" data-utm-term=\"VGhlc2Ugc2\">These shocking allegations of torture and other ill-treatment must be investigated immediately<\/div>\n<footer class=\"quote__source\" data-scenario=\"quote_author\">Philip Luther<\/footer>\n<\/blockquote>\n<footer data-scenario=\"quote_author\">\u201cThese shocking allegations of torture and other ill-treatment must be investigated immediately. It is appalling that the conservationists have been forced to face a deeply flawed trial on bogus charges,\u201d said Philip Luther.<\/p>\n<p>The conservationists have been denied access to a lawyer of their choosing throughout their entire detention and trial. Even in court, they were not allowed to speak with their lawyers. Sam Rajabi\u2019s repeated requests to be represented by his own independently chosen lawyer were rejected by the judge, leaving him without legal representation in court.<\/p>\n<p>In May 2018, a governmental committee consisting of the ministers of intelligence, interior and justice and the president\u2019s legal deputy looked into detention of the conservationists and concluded that there was no evidence to suggest they were spies.\u00a0 A number of senior officials in the Iranian government, including from the department of the environment, have called for the scientists\u2019 release citing a lack of evidence against them.<\/p>\n<\/footer>\n<\/footer>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"share-this\">\n                    <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share\"\nclass=\"twitter-share-button\"\ndata-count=\"horizontal\">Tweet<\/a>\n                    <script type=\"text\/javascript\"\nsrc=\"http:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script>\n                    <div class=\"facebook-share-button\">\n                        <iframe\nsrc=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fcodir.net%2F%3Fp%3D1091&amp;layout=button_count&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=200&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=21\"\nscrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;\noverflow:hidden; width:200px; height:21px;\"\nallowTransparency=\"true\"><\/iframe>\n                    <\/div>\n                <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>5 March 2019, 16:51 UTC Wildlife conservationists in Iran who have been accused of espionage after using cameras to track endangered species could face the death penalty or more than a decade in prison, said Amnesty International, ahead of a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-human-rights-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1091"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1093,"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1091\/revisions\/1093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/codir.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}