Kavous Seyed-Emami

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Kavous Seyed-Emami (* December 24, 1953 - February 8, 2018 ) was an Iranian - Canadian university professor of sociology and environmentalist . Seyed-Emami headed the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation .

In February 2018, the Iranian judiciary declared that he had killed himself in an espionage case while detained in Tehran's Evin Prison based on evidence against him.

Life

Seyed-Emami was an Iranian with a western education. After the Iranian Revolution , he returned to Iran and fought in the war against Iraq . He was one of the founders of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, a public non-profit organization that works to protect Iranian wildlife and promote conservation projects. The organization advocates the protection of endangered species such as the Persian leopard or the Asian cheetah , from which a maximum of 50 animals still live - all in Iran. Kavous Seyed-Emami had taught sociology at Tehran's Imam Sadegh University for decades.

arrest

Kavous Seyed-Emami was arrested on January 24, 2018. At least seven people were reportedly arrested at the same time as Seyed-Emami, including Morad Tahbaz, who is an Iranian and US national.

The Center for Human Rights in Iran, a New York- based lobby group, said the Iranian authorities had stepped up their attacks on Iranians with dual citizenship in Iran.

Iran's attorney general Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi said the Iranian authorities had arrested people who had been collecting classified information "under the guise of scientific and environmental projects." He also said Seyed-Emami admitted his crimes while in detention.

death

Seyed-Emami's wife, Maryam, was summoned on February 9th and shown her husband's body hanging in a cell.

Tehran's Prosecutor Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi claimed: "He was one of the accused in an espionage case and unfortunately committed suicide in prison on the basis of his own confessions and knowing that many others had testified against him in their confessions."

His family and colleagues questioned the veracity of the government's statements that it was suicide. “They say he committed suicide. I still can't believe it, ”wrote his son, the famous singer Ramin Seyed-Emami, on Instagram.

The Iranian authorities said that Seyed-Emami had confessed to espionage. Alaeddin Boroujerdi, chairman of the parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, said some MPs had seen video surveillance images showing Seyed-Emami taking off his shirt and preparing to commit suicide. Boroujerdi said Seyed-Emami's family also accepted this and did not ask for an autopsy.

Human rights groups called for an independent investigation.

The news of Seyed-Emami's death came after the Iranian authorities announced that two Iranians who were recently arrested during a wave of anti-government protests had committed suicide in prison.

The Iranian Society of Sociology also questioned the official account of his death.

On February 13, Seyed-Emami was buried in a village north of Tehran without an independent autopsy and after his family came under pressure from the Revolutionary Guard to accept the official version of events.

Works (selection)

  • Shiìsm and development in post-revolutionary Iran . University of Oregon, Eugene 1991, OCLC 24944915 (dissertation).
  • Review of The Lion and the Gazelle. The Mammals and Birds of Iran . In: Iranian Studies . tape 35 , no. 4 , 2002, ISSN  0021-0862 , p. 424-426 , JSTOR : 4311482 .
  • Naeemeh Naeemaei, Paul Semonin: Dreams before extinction . Perceval Press, Santa Monica, CA 2013, ISBN 978-0-9895616-3-1 (English, Persian, foreword).
  • with Sheyda Ashayeri: National Parks in Iran and the Evolution of People ‒ Park Relationships . In: Iranian Studies . tape 49 , no. 6 , December 7, 2016, p. 1079-1097 , doi : 10.1080 / 00210862.2016.1241581 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dylan Darling: Activist in Iran had ties to UO. Retrieved December 29, 2018 .
  2. ↑ farsnews.com (Persian).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Iran environmentalist's death 'suicide' . February 11, 2018. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  4. ^ A b c Roger Cohen: Opinion | Death by Hanging in Tehran . In: The New York Times . February 14, 2018 ( nytimes.com [accessed March 1, 2018]).
  5. ↑ a b Is Kavous Emami's suicide in Iran 'a cover-up'? Retrieved March 1, 2018 .
  6. ^ Badische Zeitung: The outrageous death of an animal rights activist - Abroad - Badische Zeitung . ( badische-zeitung.de [accessed on March 1, 2018]).
  7. ↑ Inga Rogg: Well-known environmentalist dies in Tehran prison. In: nzz.ch. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, February 12, 2018, accessed on March 2, 2018 .
  8. ↑ King Raam (Raamin Seyed-Emami). Son's Twitter account. Twitter, February 8, 2018, accessed March 1, 2018 (Persian).
  9. ^ Tehran prosecutor confirms Seyed-Emami's suicide. Tehran Times, February 11, 2018, accessed March 2, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Shashank Bengali, Ramin Mostaghim: Environmentalists are the latest targets for arrest in Iran. One died in prison, officials say. Retrieved March 1, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Iranian-Canadian environmentalist died in Iranian custody. In: derstandard.at. February 11, 2018, accessed March 2, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Canadian University Professor Died By Suicide In Tehran Prison: Iranian MPs . In: HuffPost Canada . February 12, 2018 ( huffingtonpost.ca [accessed March 1, 2018]).
personal data
SURNAME Seyed-Emami, Kavous
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Iranian-Canadian sociologist, university professor and environmentalist
DATE OF BIRTH December 24, 1953
DATE OF DEATH February 8, 2018
Place of death Tehran , Iran