NCRI Staff
NCRI – Last month, a 63-year-old Iranian man died in prison. His name was Kavous Seyed-Emami and he was the managing director of the Persian Heritage Wildlife Foundation and a professor of sociology at Imam Sadeq University in Iran’s capital.
He was arrested during the protests at the end of January and was imprisoned.
His wife, Maryam Mombeini, was called to Evin Prison by authorities after weeks of not knowing the fate or whereabouts of her husband. She was then subjected to a cruel interrogation about her husband’s environmental work and agents tried to make her sign a false confession about her husband being involved with espionage.
It was after this harsh interrogation that Maryam was told that her husband had died. She was told that he killed himself in his cell. However, his family, including his sons Ramin and Mehran Seyed-Emami, maintain that he was killed by the prison guards.
Maryam was warned that she must not speak to the media and was warned that if she does, she will be putting her family in danger.
Last week, Maryam tried to leave the country but she was stopped at the airport and was banned from leaving Iran. Her sons want to get her back to Vancouver as quickly as possible and they are calling on the Canadian government to take urgent action.
Ramin and Mehran have received hundreds of threatening messages and warnings not to speak out about their father, however they believe it is the only way for justice to be served. The brothers have called on the Canadian government to investigate the circumstances surrounding their father’s arrest and subsequent death.
The family has still not been told why Kavous was arrested and they maintain that there is absolutely no evidence that he was a spy. They said that their father dedicated his life to environmental issues and uniting people.
Earlier this week, Ramin and Mehran met with Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, in New York to urge action to be taken to put pressure on Iran. They said that Freeland has reassured them that action is being taken so that their mother can get out of Iran as soon as possible. However, they urged her to speak publicly about this.
After the recent wave of protests at the beginning of the year, thousands of people were arrested and scores of people died as a result. It is not uncommon for political prisoners to be very badly mistreated, with many people being tortured. It is certain that many of the recent deaths of prisoners while in custody were due to torture and denial of urgent medical care.
Like many other families of victims, the Seyed-Emami family has been subjected to an intimidation campaign. Their home has been raided and they were constantly watched. They have received death threats and have witnessed the authorities carrying out a smear campaign on their father.
Speaking about how the authorities have tried to silence them, the brothers say that they believe they are safer if they speak out.
