One of the primary and fundamental examples of human rights is “security” and the related discussions. This means that if we want to talk about human rights as a principle, without a doubt, the first step and topic is security.

Throughout history, one of the most prominent measures of democracy has been ensuring the safety of its citizens in various areas.

Without security, it is not possible to talk about the citizenship and civil rights of the citizens of a country; because in the absence of a security index in a political society, all other indicators and factors are overshadowed and no claim of citizenship rights is possible without ensuring security.

In the past, security was defined as “protection of citizens against any arbitrary actions of the government” and specifically, arbitrary actions of the government referred to unlawful detention, trial, torture, and similar actions. However, with the progress of human societies in all areas, including civil and political rights and granting abundant privileges to citizens by the government, the concept of security and its indicators and examples have become broad and extensive. Nowadays, when talking about security as one of the citizen’s rights, examples such as mental security, visual security, job security, and the like are also mentioned.

As mentioned, if we consider security in its specific and primary meaning of “protecting citizens and their rights against any arbitrary actions of the government,” then it can be said that any behavior that is arbitrary and without legal permission and without the intellectual support and backing of the people of a society is in some way a threat to the security of that society. These illegal behaviors can be related to the physical and bodily realm, such as arbitrary detention or unlawful trials, or they can be related to the mental and spiritual realm of the members of society.

It is worth mentioning that in a society, there are psychological concepts that are closely related to the values and social norms of a nation and are part of the people’s personality and national pride. Examples include shared historical memories, historical monuments, a place that represents a specific event, or the existence of things such as a memorial building, ancient trees, or an old street. These things actually strengthen the common national spirit and guide a society towards a collective will to live.

In cases where the government intends to attack one of the mentioned or similar cases with arbitrary and non-expert actions, with any motivation and goal, it can be said that it has deliberately and purposefully or out of ignorance and unawareness, jeopardized the security of citizens and disregarded or violated one of the most fundamental and primary rights of its citizens.

Based on this, the action of the Tehran Municipality in cutting down the old trees on “Valiasr” street, which have a historical background and are sometimes registered as historical sites, is one of the prominent examples of violating the rights of citizenship and the safety of Iranian citizens.

The reason for this strange action, whatever it may be, whether it is based on rumors of installing security cameras or opening up the visual space of commercial centers, or whatever the municipality of Tehran has announced – meaning due to infestation, disease, and potential danger – this behavior is a clear violation of the civil and citizenship rights of the residents of Tehran and on a larger scale, the people of Iran. These trees are a part of the historical memory and a symbol of tradition for one of the most important and oldest streets in the country, which has been destroyed and diseased due to mismanagement of the municipality – which is quite ironic for a country that claims to be a pioneer in space exploration – or have become victims of profit-seeking and material interests of a particular group.

It is interesting that the official website of green spaces and parks in Tehran city has also amusingly and comically announced the details and reasons for this plan in a statement, which is expressed as follows:

9/82 به پایان رسید”

The identification of all the plane trees in four districts of Tehran municipality, from Tajrish Square to Railway Square, began on 30/8/82 and ended on 4/9/82.

The month of 11/82 has ended and based on this, a total of 8948 trees were planted along Valiasr Street, with 7922 green trees, 775 yellow trees, and 251 red trees identified. These trees were initially marked with red identification cards.

The next stages will include the following resources:

“Repairing the crown coverage of trees.”

Decrease in accumulation per unit area.

– Attracting water and nutrients.

“Koodd is superficial and shallow.”

Preventing sewage from entering rivers.

Fighting against pests and diseases.

In this plan, corrective measures have been communicated to the relevant areas by the esteemed Deputy of Urban Services of Tehran Municipality in the form of an eight-month scheduled program, which is summarized as follows:

1- Separation of Valiasr Street (AJ) from its current path and relocation of trees throughout the street to create a garden.

2- Pruning dry branches and thinning the crown of trees to prevent potential hazards caused by the weight of the crown and remove them.

3- Completely remove the existing concrete and stone pavements from the floor of the street river.

4- Soil improvement and appropriate bedding.

5- Repairing the irrigation system with a regular cycle and preferably drip irrigation for watering trees.

6- Wakari planted mature 5-year-old seedlings in the place of fallen trees.

7- Protecting trees against various damages.

8- Data collection and management of linear tree systems.

9 – Using non-chemical methods to combat pests and diseases.

“Kandeh Kani” is necessary after cutting to free up space for new seedlings or a group of new seedlings, unless it is possible and feasible to use the potential of root growth.”

The Deputy of Urban Services at the Tehran Municipality, who usually denied cutting down any trees in the capital, confirmed this news in an interview with “Bahar” newspaper and said: “Experts from the Faculty of Environment at the University of Tehran, who had visited these trees as consultants for the preservation plan of Valiasr trees, determined that six trees in this area were dangerous.” Mojtaba Abdollahi continues: “These trees were creating risks for pedestrians due to decay, so they were cut down at the first opportunity and will soon be replaced by other trees.” Ali Mohammad Mokhtari, CEO of Tehran Parks and Green Spaces Organization, also considered the tree cutting legal and said: “This action was taken with the opinion of the tree investigation plan consultant and the approval of the Commission of Article 7.”

And there are many opinions from other experts who, with a superficial review of the virtual space and the widespread newspapers of the country, are trying to justify this action; but they are unaware that these claims are not only not expert, but also have no scientific or legal basis, and in fact are a worse excuse than the sin itself. Because in a country where slogans of standing on the peaks of science and conquering global management are given, it is strange that the organization responsible for managing its capital, with large budgets and extensive facilities, does not have the ability to protect a few old trees that have historical and national value for the people of the capital and all of Iran?

This issue and other pieces of the informational puzzle that we put together, have highlighted the dilemma of cutting down trees for the installation of security cameras, occupying the minds of every patriotic Iranian and environmentalist.

In any case, these trees were also cut down and in a daily manner, another right of citizenship and civil rights of Iranian society was violated, which, of course, considering the many and more important rights that are taken away from Iranians and violated daily, this action may not seem significant. I hope that one day the people of Iran and its government officials reach a level of personal growth and human values and human rights, where even cutting down one tree is considered a great sin in the waste of citizenship rights in Iranian society.