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The reported re-arrest of prominent Iranian conservationists Hooman Jokar and Sepideh Kashani has revived serious concerns about the treatment of environmental activists and the broader trajectory of civil society in Iran. According to their attorney, Hojjat Kermani, security forces raided the couple’s residence, confiscated all electronic devices, and detained both activists. Authorities also reportedly arrested Sima Kashani, Sepideh Kashani’s sister, although no official explanation for her detention has been provided.
The timing of the arrests has further heightened concerns. According to their lawyer, the detentions occurred immediately before an extended public holiday period and the temporary closure of many judicial institutions, potentially delaying access to legal representation and information regarding the detainees’ whereabouts. As of this writing, Iranian authorities have not publicly announced the charges against the detainees, identified the agency responsible for their detention, or disclosed their location.
The arrests carry particular significance because they involve two of the most prominent figures from Iran’s widely criticized environmental espionage case. Hooman Jokar and Sepideh Kashani were first arrested in early 2018 as part of a broader crackdown on researchers associated with the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, one of Iran’s leading wildlife conservation organizations. They were accused of espionage and spent years imprisoned following prolonged periods of solitary confinement and interrogation.
The case became internationally known following the death in custody of Kavous Seyed-Emami, the founder of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, who died only weeks after his arrest. Iranian authorities declared his death a suicide, a conclusion that his family has consistently rejected. No independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death has ever been conducted.
What distinguished the environmentalists’ case from many other security prosecutions in Iran was the unusually public disagreement among Iranian state institutions themselves. At the time of the arrests, officials from Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence reportedly concluded that the environmental activists had not engaged in espionage activities, while senior officials within Iran’s Environmental Protection Organization publicly defended the detainees and questioned the basis of the charges against them. Nevertheless, the case proceeded under the authority of intelligence organizations affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. This institutional disagreement transformed the case into a symbol of broader tensions within the Iranian state over the boundaries of national security, civil society activity, and judicial independence.
After spending years in prison, Hooman Jokar, Sepideh Kashani, and several other environmental activists were released in April 2024 under a broad amnesty associated with the Eid al-Ghadir holiday. Their release was widely viewed as the conclusion of one of the Islamic Republic’s most controversial political prosecutions of recent decades. Their re-arrest, little more than two years later, raises troubling questions about the legal status of former political prisoners and the security environment facing civil society activists in Iran.
Hooman Jokar is one of Iran’s best-known wildlife conservation experts. He spent decades working on biodiversity preservation and served as the project manager of Iran’s internationally recognized Asiatic cheetah conservation program, one of the country’s most important environmental initiatives. He also served as treasurer of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation and played a central role in efforts to protect endangered species in Iran. Sepideh Kashani, an environmental researcher and conservation activist, worked alongside Jokar at the foundation and became one of the most recognizable faces of the environmentalists’ case after her arrest in 2018.
The renewed detention of Jokar and Kashani appears to extend beyond the fate of two individual activists. Their case has long represented the uncertain position of independent professional and civic organizations operating within Iran. Environmental activism occupies a particularly sensitive space in Iran because conservation projects often require extensive field research, international scientific cooperation, and work in remote geographic areas—activities that have periodically generated suspicion among segments of Iran’s security establishment. The original prosecution of the environmentalists demonstrated how quickly scientific and environmental work can become entangled with broader political and security concerns.
From the perspective of the National Iranian American Council, the re-arrest of Hooman Jokar and Sepideh Kashani is deeply alarming. The detention of environmental scientists and conservationists—particularly individuals whose innocence was previously acknowledged by senior Iranian officials and whose release was secured through a formal amnesty—not only undermines confidence in the rule of law but it also damages Iran’s scientific and environmental institutions and broader movements. NIAC calls on the Iranian government to immediately disclose the whereabouts and legal status of Hooman Jokar, Sepideh Kashani, and Sima Kashani, ensure their access to legal counsel and family members, and release them without delay unless credible and transparent legal grounds for their detention are publicly presented.
Until Iranian authorities provide information regarding the legal basis for the arrests, the location of detention, and access to legal counsel, the latest chapter of Iran’s environmentalists’ case is likely to remain a significant source of domestic and international concern and a troubling indicator of the continued vulnerability of civil society actors in Iran.