Two Iranian Environmental Activists Walk Out of Jail After 7 Years

Niloofar Bayani and Homan Jokar, Iranian environmental activists imprisoned since 2017, were released on Monday. 

Social media images captured their moment of freedom outside the prison.

Bayani and Jokar were arrested in February 2016 alongside others like Sepideh Kashani and Taher Qadirian. 

They all worked at the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, which is dedicated to saving the Iranian cheetah from extinction.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence accused them of espionage without evidence. 

These activists and five others – Abdolreza Kohpayeh, Sam Rajabi, Amir Hossein Khaleghi, Morad Tahbaz, and Kavous Seyed Emami – faced charges of "espionage" and "collaboration with hostile countries." 

Subsequently, Bayani and Tahbaz received ten-year sentences, Jokar and Qadirian received eight years, while Rajabi, Kashani, Khaleghi, and Hamid received six years each.

Kohpayeh had the shortest sentence of four years.

Previously, Kohpayeh, Rajabi, and Khaleghi were released after completing their terms. Tahbaz was also freed in a prisoner exchange last year.

Kavous Seyed Emami died just a month after his arrest during interrogation by the Revolutionary Guards. 

The authorities claimed it was suicide, but his family vehemently disputes this. No independent investigation has been conducted into the death of the prominent Iranian environmentalist.