The researchers, who according to the prosecution allegedly used camera traps for espionage purposes, received sentences of up to 10 years. International organisations are calling for a fair trial.
Almost two years ago, between 24 and 25 January 2018, Iranian law enforcement arrested eight people: Houman Jowkar, Sepideh Kashani, Niloufar Bayani, Amirhossein Khaleghi Hamidi, Sam Radjabi, Taher Ghadirian, Kavous Seyed Emami and Morad Tahbaz. All were members of a conservation organisation based in Tehran, the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation (Pwhf), which is primarily dedicated to the protection of the rare Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus). The researchers were arrested on espionage charges, and a few days ago a Tehran court issued a guilty verdict, with severe sentences.
Morad Tahbaz, founder of the Pwhf, and Niloufar Bayani were sentenced to as many as ten years in prison, Houman Jowkar and Taher Ghadirian to eight years, Sepideh Kashani, Amirhossein Khaleghi Hamidi and Sam Radjabi will serve six years, while Abdolreza Kouhpayeh will serve four. According to the prosecution, the researchers allegedly used camera traps — employed to monitor cheetahs and other threatened species — to spy on the country's ballistic missile programme on behalf of rival states.
Read also: The desperate race of the Asiatic cheetah towards extinction
According to reports from a journalist at Iran International, a Persian-language television channel based in the United Kingdom, the verdicts were presented to the defendants without their lawyers being present. It also appears that the prosecution failed to produce evidence to prove the defendants' guilt.
The eight environmentalists, who have dedicated their lives to nature conservation and have always professed their innocence, have been in custody since early 2018, under the "custody" of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the most powerful military force in Iran. There were originally nine researchers arrested, but one of them, Kavous Seyed Emami, an Iranian-Canadian university professor, died on 10 February 2018 during detention under unknown circumstances. The Iranian authorities claim he took his own life, but, despite the family's requests, they have never allowed an independent investigation to be conducted.
Few details are known about the hearings, which were held behind closed doors. The Center for Human Rights in Iran has called the integrity of the trial into question, while Amnesty International has stated that there is evidence of psychological and physical torture to which the defendants were allegedly subjected in order to extract a forced confession.
In November 2018, more than 340 scientists from 70 countries around the world, including United Nations Messenger of Peace Jane Goodall, signed a letter expressing support for the eight detained researchers. A year later, upon news of the verdict, several global conservation institutions expressed their concern. "The news coming from Iran is alarming, especially because so little is known about the judicial proceedings that were followed," reads a statement published by the Iucn. "We stand with those who dedicate their lives to the cause of nature conservation and join voices around the world calling for a transparent and fair review of this situation."
Environmental defenders are under threat in many parts of the world, from Brazil to Romania, and in Iran too this trend appears to be on the rise. According to Amnesty International, 63 environmental activists were arrested in the country in 2018.
The Asiatic cheetah once populated much of the continent, from Saudi Arabia to India, but today the species survives only in Iran. It is estimated that barely fifty individuals remain. The arrest of the researchers could deal a further and decisive blow to this species and condemn it to follow the path to extinction already taken by other big Asian cats, such as the Caspian tiger (Panthera tigris virgata). "The researchers currently in prison are some of the leading wildlife scientists in Iran," Sarah Durant, a cheetah researcher and professor of conservation science at the Zoological Society of London, told National Geographic. "Their imprisonment has seriously hampered the conservation of the Asiatic cheetah."
