Aras Amiri highlights jailed Iran environmentalists' plight

Among the galore thousands of governmental prisoners successful Iran's jails are 7 salient environmentalists who were arrested successful 2018. The erstwhile British Council employee, Aras Amiri, spent 2 and a fractional years imprisoned with 2 of them. She was released past year, and is present speaking retired for the archetypal clip to gully attraction to their plight.

Aras Amiri has each crushed to look guardant successful her life.

Since coming backmost to the UK, she has married, moved to Jersey and is present six months pregnant.

But each day, her caput takes her backmost to Evin situation successful Tehran - and to those she near down erstwhile she was released.

Like different governmental prisoners, the erstwhile London-based British Council arts manager spent clip successful solitary confinement, wherever she was threatened, blindfolded and interrogated astir the clock.

Accused of moving against the regime, she was fixed a 10-year condemnation aft declining to co-operate with Iranian intelligence, though she was yet acquitted aft appealing to Iran's Supreme Court.

She inactive has nightmares astir her ordeal.

"It's an acquisition that breaks galore people," she says. "And it has long-lasting effects connected each of us."

But it's not herself she wants to speech about.

Ms Amiri was held - unneurotic with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe - successful the women's helping of Evin on with 2 environmentalists, Niloufar Bayani and Sepideh Kashani.

"My bosom burns for them," she says. "They were my champion friends there. And it's conscionable truthful unfair."

Bayani and Kashani were arrested successful aboriginal 2018 on with Kashani's husband, Houman Jokar, Amirhossein Khaleghi, Sam Rajabi, Taher Ghadirian and Morad Tahbaz, who besides holds British and American citizenship - each members of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation (PWHF).

Its director, Canadian-Iranian dual nationalist Kavous Seyed-Emami, died successful suspicious circumstances portion nether interrogation soon aft his arrest.

The radical had been utilizing cameras to way critically-endangered chaotic Asiatic cheetahs, but were accused of utilizing their biology projects arsenic a "cover to cod classified information".

Even though a committee of Iranian ministers concluded determination was nary grounds that they were spies, a Revolutionary Court convicted them successful 2019 connected assorted nationalist information charges and sentenced them to betwixt six and 10 years successful prison.

"Their apprehension is portion of a wider suppression of Iran's environmentalists," Ms Amiri says. "And determination is nary accountability. The full process of the judiciary is simply a acheronian joke."

Best known for their enactment trying to conserve Asiatic cheetahs, she says they besides worked with Persian leopards, dolphins and turtles successful Qeshm Island, Asiatic bears, arsenic good arsenic migratory birds.

"They did specified important work. Their projects were ever supported by section people. It's a nonaccomplishment for the full of Iran."

The UN Environment Programme, wherever Niloufar Bayani had worked arsenic a advisor for respective years earlier joining the PWHF, has called for their release.

Ms Amiri says that Bayani and Kashani were "joyous" institution successful jail, contempt everything they had endured, including 2 years of solitary confinement.

"They are specified generous souls - determined to marque beingness beautiful. We inactive managed to laughter together. I was precise fortunate to person been held with them."

She describes the intelligence unit exerted connected them during their interrogations arsenic "so appalling, it's hard adjacent to imagine".

Bayani wrote to tribunal that she was threatened with intersexual assault, was forced to mimic the sounds of chaotic animals and was shown pictures of the assemblage of Kavous Seyed-Emami and told she and her colleagues would endure a akin destiny unless they confessed.

In a missive written from jailhouse connected the 5th day of their arrest, Kashani said she had been interrogated successful a country with "blood each implicit it", and threatened with hanging. Her interrogators told that her hubby would dice similar Seyed-Emami.

Both women were held successful the much-feared 2A conception of Evin situation - controlled by Iran's Revolutionary Guards - astatine the aforesaid clip arsenic the Australian academic, Kylie Moore Gilbert, who was accused of espionage and sentenced to 10 years earlier being freed successful a captive swap.

Released successful 2020, Ms Moore-Gilbert dedicated her memoir of her clip successful jailhouse to the 2 women, describing them arsenic "sisters successful suffering and injustice" who utilized to secretly stock notes of encouragement and nutrient with her astatine large hazard to themselves.

"Their love, solidarity and selfless attraction for me, a foreigner to whom they owed nothing, was the quality betwixt surviving the intelligence torture of solitary confinement and succumbing to the deliberate cruelty and degradation of Iran's situation regime," she told the BBC.

"The injustice of Nilou and Sepideh's imprisonment continues to torment me, and not a time goes by erstwhile I don't deliberation of them and anticipation for quality of their release."

Aras Amiri got to cognize the women erstwhile they were transferred from 2A to the wide women's helping of Evin.

"They're loved truthful overmuch by each the prisoners," she says. "And they truly shared with america the emotion they person of nature. I conscionable privation them to beryllium backmost with their families, backmost successful nature, and backmost protecting Iran's wildlife again."