This story shames the Islamic Republic (as does Tehran’s much broader crackdown on civil society). “Iran’s judiciary and Revolutionary Guards have declared conservation a crime by sentencing these peaceful wildlife conservationists to lengthy prison terms for doing their jobs,” says the Center for Human Rights in Iran’s executive director, Hadi Ghaemi. “Iran desperately needs wildlife and climate experts to help guide the government out of the country’s environmental crisis that mismanagement and climate change have produced.”