Apr 11 2019

Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio has once again defended eight Iranian environmentalists who have been in detention for more than a year, charged with vague accusations.

Last February, DiCaprio called for international support and circulated a petition for the release of the Iranian environmentalists who were arrested by the intelligence organization of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, IRGC.

In his latest plea issued on Instagram on Thursday, April 11, the famous actor has again expressed concern about the fate of the Iranian ecologists; some facing the prospect of the death penalty.

An Iranian court is looking into charges of espionage, based on the allegation that cameras the scientists and activists installed to monitor wildlife were spying tools.

Since DiCaprio’s petition was initiated 160,000 people have signed the request for the release of the detainees.

Iran’s Intelligence Ministry, which is separate from the IRGC has said that there is no evidence against the detainees and members of parliament have also come to their defense but the hardliner IRGC and the Judiciary continue with the prosecution of the environmental activists.

As is the case in all “security” related trials, the accused do not have the right to choose their defense attorney. The Judiciary appoints lawyers from a small pool of selected individuals.

View this post on Instagram

#Regram #RG @franslanting: Photos by @FransLanting The best way to document endangered animals like the Asiatic cheetah, which occurs only in Iran, is to use camera traps. It took the combined expertise of Iranian scientists and local wildlife rangers along with the permission of Iran’s Department of Environment and the support of an @NatGeo assignment to enable me to make this rare image of a male cheetah crossing a mountain pass. The second photo shows the teamwork that is required in the field. I am thankful to my friends in Iran for their help and devastated that two of the people shown in this photo have been in jail for more than a year now, accused of using camera traps for espionage: One of them may face the death penalty. But camera traps are not spy tools. Houman Jowkar and Amirhossein Khaleghi Hamidi worked with the government, not against it, and local rangers worked with them in the field. They were not operating on their own. They are patriots dedicated to saving one of Iran’s most powerful natural symbols from extinction. Yet they are on trial now along with six of their colleagues shown together in the third photo. Please spread word about this injustice and sign the Care2 petition by clicking on the link in my Instagram bio. @hrouhani @jzarif_ir @hediyehtehrany @Reza_Kianian_Official @mitra.hajjar @raisi_org @richardbranson @leonardodicaprio @hope4nature #ConservationIsNotaCrime #Free_Iran_Conservationists #anyhopefornature #hope4nature⁩⁩ #ConservationNeedsCameratraps #cheetahs #bigcats

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Source » radiofarda

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