Wife of Iranian-Canadian Who Died in Jail Is Barred from Leaving Iran

TEHRAN — The wife of Kavous Seyed Emami, the Iranian-Canadian environmentalist who died in an Iranian jail after being accused of spying, was barred from leaving the country on Thursday, her sons said.

The widow, Maryam Mombeini, 55, was stopped by plainclothes agents as she and her two sons, Ramin and Mehran, were boarding a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt before continuing to Vancouver, British Columbia. Mombeini was told she could not leave the country and her passport was seized, Ramin Seyed Emami said.

“They have ripped our family apart once,” said his brother, Mehran, referring to their father’s death. “Now they are doing it again, by keeping our mom in Iran.”

Both sons, who are Canadian citizens, were allowed to board the flight, as were the family’s three German shorthaired pointer dogs.

Kavous Seyed Emami, one of the founders of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, was arrested in January with six other environmental activists and was accused of spying. Within weeks, he was dead.

The authorities say Seyed Emami hanged himself in a high-security isolation cell in Evin Prison after two weeks of interrogation. The family doubts that version, however, and accuses the authorities of being responsible for the death.

“The day he entered that facility, he died,” Ramin Seyed Emami said.

The brothers say they were subjected to intimidation attempts and harassment by the same agents who had arrested their father after talking publicly about his death.

In an emailed statement, Ramin Seyed Emami, a popular singer in Iran who performs under the stage name King Raam, said those risks had convinced the family that they could no longer stay in Iran.

“After being constantly harassed and threatened, our family has decided, for the sake of our own safety, to leave Iran and head to Vancouver, where we can start a new peaceful life,” the statement said. “Although we are coming there with nothing, since the government raided our home and seized all of our valuables (most importantly deeds to our homes), we can no longer stand this state of constant terror.”

Seyed Emami elaborated on those threats in a telephone conversation. “Our lawyers have been told that we need to keep our mouths shut,” he said. “In the street, people have bumped into me, saying I should be careful not to be ‘suicided.'”

The Canadian foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, said in a Twitter post Thursday that she was “outraged” that Mombeini had not been allowed to leave Iran.