In 2018, they were arrested while working for the Tehran-based organisation Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation. Seyed Emani, the managing director of PWHF had died in February 2018 in police custody.
However, Iran's judiciary says that the death was caused by suicide, but several international organisations have called for a free and independent probe into the matter. The probe is yet to see the light of the day.
Eight other members of the organisation include Abdolreza Kouhpayeh, Niloufar Bayani, Amir Hossein Khaleghi, Sam Radjabi, Sepideh Kashani, Houman Jowkar, Morad Tahbaz and Taher Ghadirian.
PWHF was extensively working to protect the critically endangered Asiatic Cheetah. The big cat is nearing extinction in Iran.
Most of the members having studied abroad have several international ties that proved helpful in learning about the cats and working towards their conservation. Their connections with several universities in the US and Canada have also proved dangerous for them. They have been accused of having connections with foreign intelligence agencies.
Earlier the group was detained under the charges of espionage, but later the charges were changed to 'spreading corruption on earth' which can possibly invite a death penalty.
It is believed that the case was mostly based on the revelations made by one of them while being under custody. The revelations had also been retracted later under the context of being made under pressure.
The defendants have also not been given the choice of lawyers and that the sessions have been held in privacy. They have also been subjected to torture and solitary confinement and also been threatened with death of their family members. These things simply depict how the right to freedom of expression, right to fair trial have been quashed under the Iran's government.
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(With inputs from globalvoices.org )
