Bangkok Post

Environmen­talist’s family demand post-mortem

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TEHRAN: The family of an environmen­talist who died in an Iranian prison have called for a post-mortem, their lawyer said yesterday, rejecting claims by officials that they had accepted the explanatio­n of suicide.

“The family has put in a request for a post-mortem,” Arash Keikhosrav­i, lawyer for the family of Iranian-Canadian Kavous Seyed Emami, told the reformist Shargh newspaper.

He said the coroner’s office had also put in a routine request for a post-mortem.

Emami’s family were informed on Friday that the renowned professor and founder of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation had died in custody just over two weeks after being arrested on espionage charges.

On Monday, Allaedin Borujerdi, head of parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, said the family had watched a film from his cell and accepted the official explanatio­n that the 63-year-old had committed suicide.

“In the film you see that Kavous Seyed Emami is taking off his shirt and is getting prepared for suicide,” Mr Borujerdi said.

“His family too have accepted this incident and so have not asked for an autopsy,” he added.

However, the f amily’s l awyer told Shargh: “I do not confirm Mr Borujerdi’s remarks that the family did not request a post-mortem.”

Emami’s son Ramin said on Instagram that the family had launched a legal complaint over the death.

“It is absolutely essential that you rely on my Instagram, Telegram and Twitter posts for official news relating to future findings. There are no other reliable sources,” he said.

He said the family was due to receive the body yesterday and that a funeral would take place in the village of Ammameh, 40 kilometres north of Tehran.

Asked about the family’s reaction to the film, their lawyer said: “There are scenes showing Mr Seyed Emami in his solitary cell.

“Apparently it has been thought that Mr Seyed Emami committed suicide there but there is not enough evidence.”

Seven other members of the wildlife NGO are still behind bars.

The environmen­tal community has also been rocked by the apparent detention of Kaveh Madani, deputy head of the Environmen­tal Protection Organisati­on, over the weekend.

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