Reports: Four environmental activists released from prison in Iran
Published: Tuesday, Apr 9th 2024, 15:40
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According to media reports, four renowned environmental activists have been released in Iran after several years in prison as part of an amnesty.
Nilufar Bajani and Human Jokar were released from the notorious Ewin prison in the capital Tehran on Monday evening, several Iranian media reported unanimously. On Tuesday, Jokar's wife, Sepideh Kashani, and wildlife biologist Taher Ghadirian were also released, as the newspaper "Shargh" reported on Tuesday. This means that "all imprisoned environmental activists" are now free, the report continued.
"We've been waiting 6 years for this news!" wrote Inger Andersen, Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), on X, formerly Twitter, following Bajani's release. According to UNEP, the woman had been detained with seven other environmental activists in February 2018. Bajani was employed as a consultant at UNEP in Geneva between 2012 and 2017 before returning to Iran.
The four activists were among the more than 2,000 prisoners pardoned by Iran's head of state Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the occasion of Eid on Wednesday. According to the newspaper "Shargh", another environmental activist had already died in prison in 2018 less than a month after his imprisonment. Three other environmental activists had already been released in the past.
Together with other activists, the four environmentalists had campaigned to save the endangered Asiatic cheetah. The Iranian secret service had accused them of passing on secret information about sensitive facilities to foreign countries under the guise of environmental protection and therefore committing espionage and treason. Although no evidence was ever presented, the activists were sentenced to several years in prison.
Iranian environmentalists and animal rights activists have been warning for years about the extinction of the Asiatic cheetah, which lives in Iran. A UN project is also working to preserve the subspecies. Numerous environmental activists in Iran have been sentenced to long prison terms in the past for their political activities. Critics accuse the authorities of not doing enough to protect the endangered animals.
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