Iran has pardoned and begun releasing four environmental activists who spent years in prison on espionage charges, Iranian state media reported Monday. The pardons were granted in celebration of Eid al-Fitr, the Islamic holiday celebrated at the end of Ramadan, according to their lawyer.
Iran has a tradition of releasing prisoners, but not politicians, during religious holidays. The releases came months after high-stakes negotiations with the United States led to the release of a prominent Iranian-American wildlife ranger, Morad Tahbaz, and four others in exchange for the release of billions in Iranian assets from the United States.
The four activists pardoned this week, Niloufar Bayani, Sepideh Kashani, Taher Qadirian and Houman Jokar, were among eight environmentalists arrested in the winter of 2018 on charges of espionage and collaboration with Iran’s enemies – charges that have categorically refused. They were later transferred to Iran’s notorious Evin prison.
Mr Bayani and Mr Dzhokhar were released on Monday, according to images posted by their families on social media. A lawyer for the activists, Hojat Kermani, said he expected the other two to be released later.
On Monday, Kaveh Madani, Iran’s former No. 2 environmental official who is now director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, told the one post on social networking platform X: “Our long nightmare is over. The rest are prisoners Iranian environmentalists will be released eventually. This is a big day for Iran’s environment.”
Amid sporadic nationwide protests against the ruling Islamic government, environmentalists have come into the regime’s crosshairs, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps often accusing them of spying for Western governments. Also in 2018, some environmentalists criticized the ruling clergy for long-term mismanagement of water resources and corruption.
Mr Madani was deputy head of the Environment Department when he was briefly detained and questioned that year after facing threats from government hardliners. Mr. Madani, an American-educated academic, left Iran afterward. He was recruited by then-president Hassan Rouhani, as a sign that the country was ready to welcome expatriate Iranians.
But amid a bitter feud between Mr. Rouhani and hardline officials, Mr. Madani’s detention was seen by analysts at the time as an attempt to publicly humiliate and undermine Mr. Rouhani. Iran’s intelligence service has systematically cracked down on non-governmental organizations and has viewed with suspicion all kinds of activism, including calls for women’s rights and action against climate change.
Iran has also long been accused of detaining and using Iranian dual nationals for political gain. In January 2018, Kavous Seyed Emami, an Iranian-Canadian professor who was the founder of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, Iran’s most prominent environmental non-governmental organization, was arrested and charged with espionage.
Mr. Seyed Emami was arrested by intelligence agents as part of a gathering of environmental activists on charges of “contacts with the US government.” Among them was Mr Tahbaz, an Iranian-American businessman who also holds British citizenship. A wildlife conservationist, he co-founded the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation.
A month later, members of Mr. Seyed Emami’s family said that Iranian authorities had informed them that he had killed himself in a Tehran prison – a conclusion rejected by many prominent Iranians.
In September 2023, Mr. Tahbaz, who had been sentenced to 10 years in prison, was among five imprisoned Iranian-Americans allowed to leave the country under a deal with the United States to drop charges in exchange for the release of $6 billion on Iranian assets.
The lawyer for the activists pardoned this week, Mr. Kermani, told Iranian news agencies that they received the news on Sunday. He said the pardons came as part of a wider amnesty involving more than 2,100 convicts. Mr Kermanis could not be reached for comment and the wider release could not be immediately confirmed.
Mr Jokar and Mr Qadirian were sentenced to eight years in prison, of which they had already served six, Mr Kermani told local media. Ms. Bayani had four years of her prison sentence and Ms. Kasani had less than a month, he said.
Asked if the releases were conditional, Mr. Kermani told Khabar Online, “The pardon can be in full or in the form of a reduced sentence, which we hope includes all the remaining imprisonment of these four people.”
