Sepideh Kashani

She is an environmental activist who was detained by the IRGC in January 2018 in a round-up of a group of environmental activists.

• <coverage-outsourcing id='20991'> Several environmental activists were arrested around this time and transferred to Ward 2A of Evin prison. Kavous Seyyed Emami, Taher Ghadirian, Sam Rajabi, Houman Jokar, Morad Tahbaz, Amirhossein Khaleghi, Niloufar Bayani, Sepideh Kashani, Hassan Ragh, Aref Zare, Hassan Zare, Abdolreza Kouhpayeh, Morteza Arianejad, Alireza Farhadzadeh and Mohammad Saleh Ahmadi are among those arrested in relation to this case, by the IRGC Department of Intelligence </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='21575'> According to ISNA, the Tehran prosecutor in addition to posing the charge of “espionage” through “collecting systematic data in the areas of missiles and defense”, has also accused them of “pursuing a three-pronged project in assisting the CIA and MUSAD in researching environmental data, infiltrating the Iranian Scientific Community, and gathering classified information from secret national sites including missile bases. It is claimed that the accused were “seeking to complete a joint mission along with the CIA and MUSAD in order to create various environmental crises in the country. Furthermore, ISNA has accused members of the ‘Institute for Persian Heritage and Wildlife Preservation’ of “strategically placing cameras under the guise of observing environmental patterns, for the purpose of monitoring national missile activities, which would then be recorded and sent to foreign agents” </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='21048'> Houman Jokar, Taher Ghadirian, Sam Rajabi, Amirhossein Khaleghi, Niloufar Bayani and Sepideh Kashani were able to contact their families. A family member of those arrested told the Center for Human RIghts that “they called, only saying ‘I’m doing well. Don’t worry about me.’ after which the phone got disconnected”. A reliable source close to the families of those arrested told the Center that “the families continue to be under pressure not to have any media communication or interviews, and have been warned that any such communication will be to the detriment of their children” </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='21065'> Four UN Human Rights experts have issued a statement calling for the immediate release and withdrawal of criminal charges against Iranian environmental activists. In this statement, while expressing concern over the targeting of such activists by security officials, they have called these arrests ‘inexcusable’, deeming suggestions of connection between environmental protection efforts and crimes such as ‘espionage’ and ‘acting against the state’’to be “hard to fathom”. Furthermore, they have called the “flimsy” accusations against Kavous Seyyed Emami to be part of a “foul, disturbing” game, thereby asking Iranian officials for an impartial and effective investigation as to the circumstances and death of Mr. Seyyed Emami </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='21108'> The Center for Human Rights, in an interview with an informed source, reported that the detainees have not been charged yet or if they have, the charges have not been disclosed publicly, they were denied access to a lawyer and did not meet with their families, six weeks after their arrest. The source has added that the families of the detainees, along with several university professors and colleagues of detainees, met with some of the parliamentarians, and explained to the representatives about the installed cameras, the Cheetah project, and the areas in which they worked and how they worked. However, they have received no news from these representatives, as well as from the four-member committee that Hassan Rouhani had formed for following up on the death of Kavous Seyyed Emami and the situation of the detained environmental activists </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='21332'> HRANA, quoting BBC reported that the arrestees' families were told in their visit to Evin Prison that the detainees "are still banned from family visits and their interrogation period has been extended until the 25th of March" </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='21405'> In an interview with the Center for Human Rights, an informed source announced that the arrest of detainees has been extended until the 25th of March. He added that except for Niloufar Bayani, none of the detainees had met with their families since their detention, and their lawyers were not allowed to meet with the client and enter the case. He also told the Center about Alireza Farhadzadeh: > Alireza's condition is worse than the rest of the detainees, since no news of him has been available since his arrest, and he has not even had a telephone call </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='21752'> Tehran's prosecutor repeated the espionage charges and claimed that environmental activists were covers to get outside the country's intelligence. He said"In one of the defendants' remarks, it is revealed that he was trained abroad and traveled to the country and carried out similar actions in the foreign sphere . One of the defendants received monthly salaries, had a secure computer, reported on a monthly basis and would go to the embassy related to the service in London or other countries, and had exchanged information." Jafari Dolatabadi also claimed about Kaveh Madani, a former deputy of the environmental organization: > If people prefer to escape, this is due to the importance of preliminary investigations in the case, and if today we read in some sites that the deputy has left the country, it goes back to the investigation, because some defendants have realized that we are approaching them. Now, if someone has left the country, they will finally return </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='21785'> Writing a letter to the president, nearly 800 environmental activists urged him to urgently address the situation of detained environmental activists and paying attention to their rights as detainees. It is said in parts of this letter: > It is astonishing that all the activities and efforts made by Iran's environmental community in the last few decades to raise public awareness and to tackle the water crisis, climate change, the destruction of biodiversity and other environmental problems that require contact with professors and foreign universities, sampling natural areas with equipments such as telephoto cameras, as well as research and executive activities in official projects approved by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Forestry and Rangeland Organization, or attracting funds for protective projects from the related institutions are now considered suspicious and criminal. At the end, they called on the president to create a safe environment for enviormental activists, to try to defend the rights of the accused and to prevent the mentioning of unproved allegations in the media, and to announce the results of the four-member committee's investigation formed by the president's order to investigate the case </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='22134'> Leili Houshmand Afshar, Sam Rajabi’s mother, was able to visit him in Evin prison. She gave this news in an interview with the Center for Human Rights in Iran, adding that her son’s mental condition has improved since her first visit. Furthermore, she added that she’s been told by the authorities not to speak about the kind of charges against her son, not to talk about the availability of a lawyer, not to speak in any foreign languages, and not to hug/kiss her son. She also noted that after following up, she’d been informed that a lawyer would not have access to her son’s file until the start of court proceedings. Previously, Mahmoud Behzadi, Sam Rajabi’s lawyer had informed the Center that he and other lawyers advocating on behalf of Environmental Activists have all issued their respective ‘Power of Attorney’ documentation as of February 4th, nonetheless, those arrested are not even informed that they have legal representation </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='22101'> Mahmoud Sadeghi, a MP, wrote on his Twitter that during a meeting with MPs, the intelligence minister "explicitly, and documentally announced that they have not found any reason to deem environmental activists to be spies" </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='22135'> Azar Sedaghati, an environmental activist reported on her Instagram page that about 40 local residents and two ranger in Bandar Lengeh in Hormozgan province. She said the houses of all these people were searched and the communications devices were all seized </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='22669'> Isa Kalantari, head of the Environmental Protection Agency said: > Based on the assessment of the four-member government's committee, environmental activists should be released emphasizing that there is no evidence that they are spies </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='22750'> Mohammad Reza Tabesh, chairman of the environmental fraction of Parliament, said that according to experts from the Ministry of Intelligence, the case of the enviormental activists has not been spying. He also said about the condition of Kavous Seyyed Emami's wife: > We demanded thr matter to be addressed but we have not yet received a response from the relevant authorities. Also, Masoumeh Ebtekar, Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, said: > The case of environmental activists will close shortly and detainees will be released </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='22819'> Katayoun Rajabi, sister of Sam Rajabi, in an open letter to Hassan Rouhani complained regarding the continued arrest of environmental activists and the lack of accountability of the judiciary and security authorities, urged the president to address this matter. In this letter, she cites the unclear nature of the organization that arrested his brother, bringing charges by the prosecutor and the state television without holding a trial, more than two months of interrogation without legal presentation, giving promises to families for regular meetings and failure to meet promises, failure to allow regular phone calls, the manner of the magistrate behavior and threats to the execute the prisoners in the event of further follow-up and lack of accountability on the part of the officials despite the Intelligence Minister's acknowledgment that the detainees are not spies </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='23118'> The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported citing a source close to the families of environmental activists arrested on the commencement of interrogations and pressure on them in the Revolutionary Guard clause 2 of the Evin Prison. The informed source told the Campaign that at the last meetings of families with their children, which had taken place last week, "Sam Nurse Rajabi was wounded, the teeth had been broken by Tahir Ghadirian, and the officer who told Niloufar to tell her mother that she had been sent a blindfold to her family. That he should cooperate with them. "Sam Rajabi's mother also confirmed in a conversation with Sam Rajabi on the nose, and added that she was" weak, lean and pale "at the last meeting. </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='23410'> The family of the arrested environmental activists called for the transparency in the status of the environmental activists in the ward 2A of Evin prison, in a letter to the heads of the three government branches. Pointing out that eight of the detainees are still deprived of having attorneys, they have said in a part of the letter: > The President's Special Investigation Board, the Minister of Intelligence and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency have officially announced that the espionage charges have been made to detained activists of the environment are unsubstantial, and have demanded their release. The spokesman for the judiciary has also announced the end of the investigations period. However, our loved ones are still in temporary custody. In another part of the letter, they also called for a delegation of parliamentarians and government representatives to meet with the detainees for clarification and hearing what they have to say </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='25714'> According to Amnesty International, Sepideh Kashani was charged with "espionage" </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='25699'> According to IPA, five trial sessions were held for environmental activists in early 2019 on 30 Jan, February 2, 12, 13 and 18. In the next month, at least three further sessions were held. In some trial sessions, not all activists were present. Some sessions were held without the lawyers </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='23836'> The first session of the Environmental Activists’ trial was held under the chairmanship of Judge Salavati. In this session, half of the three-hundred-page indictment was read. According to the reports, Niloufar Bayani has repeatedly protested to the judge that her confessions had been acquired under torture. She has said: “If you were also threatened, like I was, to get an injection, you would have confessed.” Some attorneys were not invited to this session. Meanwhile, MP Mahmoud Sadeghi announced that the Supreme National Security Council also studied the case and did not consider the activities of these prisoners as “cases of espionage”. It was previously reported that Tehran’s prosecutor has changed the charge of some environmental activists from “espionage” to the heavier charge “corruption on earth”, after receiving a letter from the army </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='26172'> According to IPA, the trials have once more stopped. In this same period, Sepide Kashani, Niloofar Bayani, Hooman Jokar, Amirhossein Khaleqi and Taher Ghadirian have gone on hunger strike for a week or more. Their demands are transfer to the general population, holding of a trial or release on bail. A short while later, Isa Kalantari, head of the Environment Organization, told reporters that the less is reported on the environmentalists in prison, the better it is for them </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='25706'> The trial will take place this week, the Judiciary spokesperson said </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='26424'> Speaking to Khabar Online, Isa Kalantari, head of Iran’s Environment Organization, said the arrest was illegal and added: “The intelligence minister has officially declared that these people have not committed any crimes but a parallel intelligence operation claims them to be criminals. I am duty-bound to declare the opinion of the Intelligence Ministry since the constitutions tasks this ministry with deciding who is a spy.” He also said that the Judiciary has barred his organization from intervening in this case </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='27507'> The third channel of Islamic Republic TV, broadcast a program called “Documentary of the usual suspects”. this program aired just for three minutes. According to network officials, there were technical issues for broadcasting. In the early minutes of the program, Kavous Seyed Emami and Morad Tahbaz were introduced as affiliates of foreign intelligence services </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='27581'> According to the BBC, environmental activists' verdicts issued by Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court presided over by Judge Salavati. Morad Tahbaz and Niloufar Bayani were individually sentenced to 6 years, each of Taher Ghadirian and Hooman Jokar sentenced to 8 years, and each of Sepideh Kashani and Amir Hossein Khaleghi sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment. Sam Rajabi and Abdolreza Kouhpayeh's verdicts were probably issued and will be announced soon, according to lawyer Mohammad Hossein Aghasi's interview with Iran International. In addition to Mrs. Bayani's prison sentence, she has been sentenced to pay cash equal to six years of pay at the United Nations. The charges will be cited and listed in the statistical section, after accessing the details </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='27615'> According to the reports, Sam Rajabi has been sentenced to six years and Abdolreza Kouhpayeh to four years of imprisonment. Legal provisions that condemn environmental activists are unknown </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='29581'> <reference source='https://twitter.com/andersen_inger/status/1237255870628745216'> Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, tweeted about the release of one of eight environmental activists named Abdolreza Kouhpayeh and called for the release of other environmentalists </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='32430'> <reference source='https://www.hra-news.org/2020/hranews/a-25517/'> According to HRANA, 35 political women prisoners are currently being kept in the women's Evin Prison ward. They face problems such as limited access to medical services, rarity and high prices of goods, low-quality food, etc. After the coronavirus's pandemic, prisoners are responsible for preparing masks and gloves. In the prison store, each mask or pair of gloves is sold to prisoners at a price of between eight and ten thousand tomans. Detergents and disinfectants are also given to the prisoners rationally. Still, the prisoners have to buy these materials from the store due to the lack of these items. The prison store sells Alcohol and other disinfectants at high prices, so some prisoners buy these substances together. The quality of food is low, and most prisoners are forced to buy food from the prison store. Maryam Akbari Monfared, Atena Daemi, Raheleh Ahmadi, Saba Kord Afshari, Niloufar Bayani, Sepideh Kashani, Fatemeh Mosanna, Zahra Zahtabachi, Monireh Arabshahi, Yasaman Ariani, Mojgan Keshavarz, Aras Amiri, Samaneh Norouz Moradi, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Hengameh Shahidi, Rezvaneh Ahmad Khanbeigi, Sepideh Farhan, Sepideh Gholyan, Maryam Ebrahimvand, Neda Ashtiani, Zahra Jamali, Fariba Adelkhah, Mozhgan Kavousi, Mozhdeh Negahdar, Elham Barmaki, Masoumeh (Minoo) Ghasemzadeh Malek Shah, Maryam Haji Hosseini, Nazanin Toosi, Mina Saki, Mira Radpour, Leila Raouf, Hajar Siamifar, and Soroush Ahmadi Khosravi are among the 35 women prisoners currently being kept in the women's ward of Evin Prison. </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>
• <coverage-outsourcing id='33248'> <reference source='https://united4iran.org/en/15prisoners'> United for Iran published the fact patterns and legal analyses of Sepideh Kashani's case, taking into consideration human rights and fair trial violations based on international treaties to which the IRI is a signatory. The Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) has been used as the lead document for this context. United for Iran has published similar fact patterns for 14 other political prisoners, including prisoners of conscience, and has called on UN institutions to use these resources to file cases and follow up on their situations </reference> </coverage-outsourcing>