Human Rights Watch-

Iran: Investigate Suspicious Deaths in Detention, Release Activists
Authorities Crackdown on Environmentalists 

(Beirut, February 13, 2018) – A third suspicious death in Iranian prisons since early January 2018 underscores the need for an immediate independent inquiry, Human Rights Watch said today. On February 10, the family of a well-known Iranian environmentalist, Dr. Kavous Seyed Emami, who had been in detention for two weeks on bogus charges, reported that he had died under unknown circumstances.

On January 24 and 25, security forces reportedly arrested seven environmental activists on January 24 and 25, including Seyed Emami, a well-known Iranian-Canadian academic and a faculty member of Imam Sadegh University. On February 10, Ramin Seyed Emami, his son, wrote on social media that authorities had summoned his mother the day before to inform her that her husband had “committed suicide” in detention.

“Iranian judicial authorities think they can get away with claiming that Seyed Emami, a well-known professor, simply committed suicide while being detained in one of the highest-security wards of Evin prison,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The Iranian judiciary long ago lost its credibility after failing to investigate repeated incidents of torture and mistreatment in detention.”

Seyed Emami’s death is the third case of alleged suicide in detention reported by the authorities since early January. On January 7 and 8, in the aftermath of mass arrests that followed protests across the country, activists reported at least two deaths, in the cities of Tehran and Arak.

Read more:

https://www.hrw.org/middle-east/n-africa/iran