Iranian security forces in Tehran arrested wildlife conservationists Houman Jowkar and Sepideh Kashani, alongside Sepideh’s sister, Sima Kashani, on July 1, 2026, according to reports from multiple Iranian news sources.
Jowkar and Sepideh, who are married, are experts on the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus) and were previously arrested in 2018 on espionage charges related to their alleged use of camera traps. The cheetah subspecies, found only in Iran, is believed to have fewer than 30 individuals remaining in the wild.
Hojjat Kermani, the trio’s attorney, told media that security agents confiscated electronic devices during a raid at the couple’s residence, before taking all three into custody.
The conservation NGO Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) expressed “profound concern and alarm” over the detentions. It urged Iranian authorities to clarify the group’s legal status and whereabouts.
Mongabay previously reported that Jowkar and Sepideh were members of the now-defunct Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation (PWHF), a Tehran-based conservation organization. They were among a group of eight conservationists arrested in January 2018 on charges alleging use of wildlife camera traps for the purpose of spying on Iran, including monitoring the country’s missile program.
Those 2018 charges were widely condemned by the international scientific community as baseless. One of the arrested researchers, Kavous Seyed Emami, died in custody with Iranian authorities saying the death was a suicide, a claim doubted by Seyed Emami’s family. Jowkar and Sepideh were eventually pardoned and released in April 2024 after serving six years in Tehran’s Evin Prison.
Authorities haven’t officially stated reasons for the arrest of Sima Kashani, Sepideh’s sister.
In a statement released on Instagram, Kylie Moore-Gilbert, an Australian-British academic whose research background is in Middle East political science and who was also arrested in Iran on separate espionage charges in 2018, said the Iranian conservationists are “not political activists.” Moore-Gilbert was Sepideh Kashani’s former cellmate.
“They haven’t been involved in politics and there’s no reason for their arrest,” she said. “Please raise the fate of these three brave Iranians, wherever and to whomever you can that might help. Transparency is the only way, shining a spotlight is the only way that we can ensure their safe treatment and potential freedom.”
Moore-Gilbert added that Sima Kashani suffers from multiple sclerosis and requires critical medical treatment, while the sisters’ father is also “very, very unwell”.
WCS said in its statement that they “respectfully call upon the relevant authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran to clarify the legal status and current whereabouts of Ms. Kashani, Mr. Jowkar, and Sima Kashani immediately.”
“Through their pioneering work with the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, they dedicated years to studying and preserving the few remaining individuals of this unique [Asiatic cheetah] population,” WCS added.
Mongabay previously reported that the initial 2018 crackdown had a major chilling effect on conservation activities and scientific collaboration in Iran.
Banner image of an Asiatic cheetah. Image by Ehsan Kamali via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).
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