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Niloufar Bayani[edit]

Niloufar Bayani (Persian: نیلوفر بیانی‎) is an Iranian wildlife activist and researcher.[1] She was convicted in 2019 of espionage by Iranian authorities in a closed-door trial in Iran [2], and received a 10-year prison sentence[3].

Education and career[edit]

Bayani graduated from McGill University in Canada with a BSc in Biology in 2009 and holds an MA in Conservation Biology from Columbia University.[4] She subsequently worked as a consultant and project adviser to United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) between 2012 and 2017.[5]

After coming back to Iran, she joined the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation (PWHF)[6], an Iranian environmental organization that was co-founded by Kavous Seyed-Emami and some other Iranian environmentalists. PWHF is a non-profit organization supervised by a board of trustees and an executive board whose members are well versed in conservation strategies and natural resource management. In Iran, she worked on the wildlife projects, setting camera traps in seven provinces to monitor the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah[7]

Arrest and imprisonment[edit]

Bayani was arrested in January 2018 by Iranian authorities on charges of espionage[8], with other seven conservationists. Niloufar Bayani, Houman Jowkar, Morad Tahbaz and Taher Ghadirian have been charged with “corruption on earth” (efsad f’il arz) and could be sentenced to death. Amirhossein Khaleghi, Sepideh Kashani and Abdolreza Kouhpayeh have been charged with espionage and could face up to 10 years in prison. Sam Rajabi has been charged with offences including “cooperating with hostile states against the Islamic Republic” and could face up to 11 years in prison.

Following their arrests, they were held incommunicado in Section 2-A of Evin Prison without access to a lawyer and limited family contact. According to a BBC report, Bayani was separated and detained incommunicado for eight months and her interrogators tortured and intimidated her with sexual assault.[9] She was sentenced in 2020 without a lawyer.[10]

In 2019, Bayani wrote an open letter to Ayatollah Khamenei, describing her harsh treatment by the interrogators[11]. On February 18, 2020, BBC Persia published letters that Dr. Bayani wrote from Evin Prison, in which she detailed the tortures she has to undergo [12]. Bayani said that her interrogators showed her a photo of Kavous Seyed-Emami (the head of the environmental institute that she worked for, and whose body was found in his prison cell two days after his arrest with officials claiming he had committed suicide).[13] Furthermore, Bayani reported that she was forced to a confession with sexual assaults[1].

International reactions[edit]

On March 14, 2019 the European Parliament adopted a resolution in which it condemned the Iranian violations to human rights, freedom of expression, fair trial, freedom of the press, freedom of thought and freedom of religion[14]. In particular, the document makes reference to the case of Dr. Bayani and the other environmentalists in point 14; by urging the Iranian authorities to release all the individuals unfairly detained in their prisons for allegedly commission of crimes.[14]

The United Nation's Human Rights Council, on January 28, 2020, published a Report[15] on the situation of human rights in Iran, which expresses the concern of the Special Rapporteur regarding condition of respect of the fundamental human rights. One paragraph of the document relates to the case of the eight detained environmentalists, among which there is Niloufar Bayani. She is accused of “collaborating with the United States enemy state" and has also been condemned to refund the income perceived as a consultant and project adviser to United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) between 2012 and 2017. The Rapporteur invited the Iranian authorities to ensure the respect of the work pursued by the scientific community for the benefit of the Iranian country[15].

Iranian reactions[edit]

Following Niloufar Bayani's revelation of the sexual and psychological harassment of the interrogators, the Tehran Prosecutor's Office denied the allegations, claiming that all the interrogation procedures had been videotaped, and linked the issue to accusations and planned actions on the eve of the election. It claimed that the judiciary was sensitive to the dignity of defendants, convicts, and prisoners [16].

The revelation of the behavior of the intelligence interrogators to Niloufar Bayani was widely reported on social media. The Iranian reformist political activist Mustafa Tajzadeh wrote a statement on Twitter and called for the truth on Bayani's case, and for the punishment of the perpetrators of violence[17].


See also[edit]

References[edit]


  1. ^ a b "Iran 'jails wildlife activists' accused of spying". BBC News. 2019-11-20. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  2. ^ "Cheetah researchers accused of spying sentenced in Iran". Animals. 2019-11-20. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  3. ^ ProQuest (Firm) (1851). ProQuest Digital Microfilm New York times. New-York, N.Y.: New York Times Co. OCLC 476794163.
  4. ^ Armstrong, Jeanne (December 11, 2018). "McGill grad jailed in Iran being criminalized for environmental work, says friend". CBC.ca Radio Canada. Retrieved June 19, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ Environment, U. N. (2019-11-22). "UN Environment Programme statement on the sentencing of environmentalists in Iran". UN Environment. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  6. ^ "Iran sentences McGill-trained scientist to 10 years in prison: reports". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  7. ^ Cunningham, Erin; Iran. "Environmentalists filmed Iran's vanishing cheetahs. Now they could be executed for spying". Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-06-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ "Niloufar Bayani, Iran". Scholars at Risk. 2019-04-18. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  9. ^ "Environmentalist In Iran Prison Exposes Torture, Sexual Threats By Interrogators". RFE/RL. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  10. ^ "1200 Hours of Torture, Sexual Threats and Forced Confessions". IranWire | خانه. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  11. ^ ""Torture" and "Sexual Threats" Detailed in Letters by Jailed Former UN Environment Consultant". Center for Human Rights in Iran. 2020-02-20. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  12. ^ باستانی, حسین (2020-02-18). "'۱۲۰۰ ساعت اعتراف‌گیری سپاه با شکنجه و تهدید جنسی' از متهم محیط زیستی". BBC News فارسی (in Persian). Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  13. ^ "1200 Hours of Torture, Sexual Threats and Forced Confessions". IranWire | خانه. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  14. ^ a b "Texts adopted - Iran, notably the case of human rights defenders - Thursday, 14 March 2019". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  15. ^ a b "Report_of_the_Special_Rapporteur_on_the_situation_of_human_rights_in_the_Islamic_Republic_of_IranA4361.pdf". www.ohchr.org. Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  16. ^ Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "دادستانی تهران: بحث شکنجه نیلوفر بیانی عملیات رسانه‌‌‌ای است | DW | 20.02.2020". DW.COM (in Persian). Retrieved 2020-06-24.
  17. ^ "Post on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-06-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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