This press release has been published by the Pasargad Heritage Foundation to the Personalities of the Year for their vision and efforts to preserve the national, cultural, historical, and natural heritage of Iran that also belongs to all humanity.
Recipient of Nowruz Award of Pasargad Heritage Foundation, year 1402 Iranian Calendar (2023)
In the field of Natural Heritage and Environment.
Nilufar Bayani is a conservationist, researcher, lecturer, and a senior expert in the conservation of natural heritage and wildlife, and is the recipient of the Nowruz award in the field of “natural heritage and environment” for her achievements as outlined below:
- For her impressive achievements and outstanding work as one of the few Iranian women in the field of natural heritage and wildlife protection,
- For her many years of efforts towards scientific learning of ways to preserve natural heritage and environment in different countries of the world,
- For her efforts and several years of work in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and helping to advance international projects to preserve global natural heritage,
- For her work on managing the planning of wildlife conservation in the Parsian (Persian) Wildlife Heritage Institute,
- For her immense affection and love for preserving the natural heritage of her motherland, Iran, which has caused her to pay such high price including years of imprisonment, mental and physical torture, and sexual threats in the hands of Iranian government.
Bayani and other environmental prisoners started a hunger strike. However, this did not result in any positive outcome. In the second court session, she stated that was repeatedly assaulted sexually and physically threatened by the agents, and every confession she made was made under torture. She said that in order to get a confession from her, they even showed her the dead body of Kavos Seyed Emami.
Sometime later, in 2019, she was accused of “collaborating with the hostile government of America and the Zionist regime and espionage against the Islamic Republic of Iran” and was sentenced to 10 more years in prison and the payment of three hundred and fifty six thousand and sixty dollars (equivalent to the salary she had received when she worked with the UN).
Today, in March.2023 Bayani is still in prison in Iran.
