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IRAN-ENVIRONMENT-ESPIONAGE-TRIAL
Iran environmentalists jailed up to 10 years for spying
TEHRAN, Feb 18, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – An Iranian appeals court has upheld jail
sentences of up to 10 years against eight environmentalists convicted of
spying, conspiring with Washington and damaging national security, the
judiciary said Tuesday.
“The appeals court endorsed and finalised the sentences of the suspects in
the so-called environmentalists’ case, as we believe it to be a case of
acting against national security,” judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili
said.
The eight were handed sentences of four to 10 years, with Morad Tahbaz and
Niloufar Bayani receiving the maximum for “conspiring with America as a
hostile government”, Esmaili said.
Houman Jowkar and Taher Ghadirian were sentenced to eight years, and Sam
Rajabi and Sepideh Kashani to six on similar charges.
Amir Hossein Khaleqi was charged with “spying” and sentenced to six years,
while Abdolreza Kouhpayeh was sentenced to four years for “colluding to
commit acts against national security”, Esmaili said.
The convicts all worked with environmental group Persian Wildlife Heritage
Foundation to track endangered species and were arrested on suspicion of
espionage in early 2018.
Four of them were later charged with “corruption on earth” — an offence
that is one of the most serious under Iranian law and carries the death
penalty.
Those charges were dropped last October, but the defendants still faced
other security-related charges.
Another environmentalist detained in early 2018, Iranian-Canadian
university professor Kavous Seyed Emami, 63, allegedly committed suicide in
prison a fortnight after his arrest.
His widow, Maryam Mombeini, left Iran for Canada in October after a months-
long travel ban was lifted.
BSS/AFP/IJ/1857 hrs