Iranian Wildlife Conservationists Should Never be Imprisoned on Baseless Criminal Charges

The eight conservationists from the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation held hostage by Iran.

The Asiatic cheetah is on the precipice of extinction with less than 53 remaining in Iran. Due to its conservation status, conservationists are working hard to ensure this magnificent cat does not go extinct. However, the process is being greatly hindered when a group of eight conservationists Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation were captured by the country's government and held hostage on charges related to espionage. The hostages include Amir Hossein Khaleghi, Abdolreza Kouhpayeh, Houman Jowkar, Morad Tahbaz, Niloufar Bayani, Sam Rajabi, Sepideh Kashani, and Taher Ghadirian. They were working for the organization on the conservation of various Iranian wildlife species, which includes observing animals like cheetahs with camera traps. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed that the team used camera traps to gather information on Iran's missile program. If convicted, the conservationists could be sentenced to six months or face the death penalty. These people were not the only ones to be wrongfully accused of espionage by the country's government. Kavous Seyed-Emami, an Iranian-Canadian environmentalist, was arrested earlier this month on similar baseless charges and died under questionable circumstances in February while in custody. According to Tara Sepehri Far, a researcher with the Human Rights Watch, an investigation by the order of President Hassan Rouhani did not find that the conservationists were spies, which put them in the heart of a "domestic power struggle" with hardliners of the judiciary and the Revolutionary Guard. A group of experts demanded the government of Iran to have the charges against these conservationists to be dropped in a statement from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Asiatic cheetah

I cannot think of anything more barbaric and outrageous to both wildlife conservation and humanity than to see these eight conservationists being held hostage on false charges relating to espionage. What have these people done that is traitorous to Iran and its people? How can they be persecuted like animals without any solid proof that they committed crimes relating to espionage? These eight people were simply conducting camera trap surveys to monitor Iran's cheetahs as part of the ongoing conservation efforts to bring these cats back from the brink of extinction. To blindly imprison conservationists and environmentalists on false charges is downright unacceptable. I strongly urge the government of Iran to please drop the charges against these eight conservationists and let them continue their work in ensuring the survival and well-being of Iran's wildlife. If more and more people involved in the conservation of Iran's wildlife end up this way, it would not only hinder the efforts but also spell disaster for critically endangered animals like cheetahs. In other words, the Iranian government would inadvertently let the cheetah get closer and closer to extinction by wrongfully accusing conservationists and environmentalists of crimes which they have never done. I cannot imagine the Asiatic cheetah vanishing into history, especially after it had disappeared from much of its former homeland in India, the Arabian Peninsula, Central Asia, and the Caucasus in the past decades. Iran is its last home and serious action needs to be taken to bring it back from extinction.

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