Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, the defense attorney of some of the incarcerated environmentalists in Iran says that his clients will be tried for the charge of spreading corruption on earth.

“Spreading corruption on earth” is the highest crime in Iranian law and it is punishable by death.

According to Aghasi, the prosecutor has decided to charge the five with spreading corruption on earth after receiving a letter from the army through the national security council.

Previously, the arrested environmental activists were sentenced to espionage.

Last month, Isa Kalantari, the chairman of Iran’s Environmental Protection Agency had told IRNA that the only authority on charges of espionage is the minister of intelligence, who has officially announced that these environmental activists are not spies.

In January of 2018, seven environmental activists were arrested, and several more have been arrested since then. Among them was Kavous Seyed Emami, a university professor and the chairman of “Parsian Wildlife Heritage” who died in prison on February 8th. The officials called it a suicide.

About the charge of spreading corruption on earth, Aghasi says: “Many of my colleagues and I believe the charge is not suitable. Because even if they have committed espionage, the charge would still not fit their crime, so we must wait and see on what grounds have these charges been brought up.