Three more people involved in environmental projects have been arrested on espionage charges, a judiciary official said on Sunday, days after an Iranian-Canadian head of a wildlife NGO detained on the same charges committed suicide. The arrests were made in the southern province of Hormozgan, Judiciary Spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei said at a press briefing, without offering further details, ISNA reported. Iran had earlier announced the arrest of several people who had been gathering sensitive information under the guise of scientific and environmental activities, without mentioning the number of the detainees. Mohseni-Ejei said “infiltration” by the United States and Israel is a serious issue, which is aimed at not only collecting information but also influencing important decisions made in the country. According to him, no foreign national has been arrested in the case so far. Iranian officials say Kavous Seyed-Emami, director of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, was part of a spy network associated with US and Israeli intelligence agencies and took his own life in prison because of the weight of evidence against him. “Not all the people who have been working in such organizations are spies. Some of them were unaware of the spying. This is what has made the case difficult, and we have to wait for issues to be clarified,” the judiciary spokesman said.
