The activists were arrested September 14 as they were distributing leaflets calling on the people to take part in protests in Ardebil, according to the Association for the Defense of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners.
But these activists weren’t the only ones urging action to prevent the complete drying up of Lake Urumiyeh. One day after their arrest, a group of eight former Majlis deputies, cabinet ministers, provincial governors general and managers sent a letter to the Majlis, asking that the lake’s predicament be discussed extensively by independent experts and government officials, according to the opposition website 
Rahesabz.
“Demanding more attention to increased funding for water supplies to Lake Urumiyeh is a reasonable expectation. That must be done with urgency, and any neglect of the region will leave us face-to-face with a devastation and huge disaster,” Rahesabz quoted the letter as saying.
The authors of the letter had barely veiled criticism for the government’s attempts to disperse demonstrations and arrest dozens of activists and protestors.
“We think making the problem of Lake Urumiyeh a security matter and using repression against environmental activists will not solve any problems,” the letter said.
The authors went on to call on the government to release all prisoners.
Meanwhile, the arrested protestors’ brethren to the north in the Republic of Azerbaijan sought to show solidarity by staging protests outside the Iranian embassy in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku.
However, the Azarbaycani Milli Istiqlal Party’s members were dispersed by the police because their protest was not authorized. The protestors read their statement away from the embassy, urging the Iranian government to prevent the shrinking of the lake and to free the protestors. They also submitted their statement to the embassy.
Those arrested last week included Abbas Lesani, Asghar Akbarzadeh, Moslem Akbar-zadeh, Ebrahim Rashidi, Hasan Karimzadeh, Isa Azizi, Nasrollah Valizadeh, Rahim Gholami, Hamid Ghovvati, Ali Kheirju, Mehdi Osuli, Ali Babaie and Babak Javan-sher.
