At least six people have died in Iranian prisons under suspicious circumstances in the last two months, according to a recent report from Al Jazeera. The most recent case in the series of questionable deaths came to public light last Sunday, February 11, when dual Canadian-Iranian national Kavous Seyed-Emami was reported to have committed suicide in a Tehran prison.

Seyed-Emami, 63, was a sociology professor and environmental activist who worked as the managing director of the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation. He was arrested a month before his reported death when, according to BBC, he was seized by the intelligence unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) for espionage. The circumstances of the late professor’s death are strikingly similar to a series of highly contested suicides from detention facilities across the country. Several of these ‘suicides’ followed the arrests made during last month’s political unrest.

On 14 February, President Hassan Rouhani moved to address the growing concerns from Seyed-Emami’s family and various human rights organizations, and launched an investigation into the deaths. According to Radio Farda, the investigation committee will consist of top-level government employees, including the interior, justice, and intelligence ministers, and will attempt to determine if police negligence was involved in any of the deaths.

Both the recent ‘suicides’ and President Rouhani’s move to investigate the actions of the individuals involved reflect a growing concern over the treatment of dual-national Iranians and prisoners who were arrested for allegedly political reasons. In a recent statement, former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called out Iran’s judiciary and IRGC — both unelected bodies — for their unchecked power in the state. Ahmadinejad’s concerns echo the critique of leading human rights organizations, including The Centre for Human Rights in Iran, that the state’s actions, particularly in their treatment of prisoners, will not be adequately addressed.

On an immediate level, the ‘suicide’ of Seyed-Emami raises concerns over a political fall out between Canada and Iran. The tragic death of Zahra Kazemi, a dual Canadian-Iranian national who had been beaten to death outside of Evin prison in 2003, sparked a major fallout between the two countries. Fifteen years later, there is concern that Seyed-Emami’s death poses the same risk.

In the long term, however, the recent deaths of all six Iranians reveals the overwhelming issue of the futility of President Rouhani’s investigatory efforts. Between the structural autonomy of the IRGC and considerable power of Ayatollah Khamenei, the success of the proposed investigative committee will inevitably rely upon the IRGC’s cooperation, an assurance that cannot be presumed. As Iran faces a particular scrutiny in the eyes of the most recent international media, and both pro and anti-regime demonstrations have prompted mass arrests and unrest in the capital, there is a significant amount of uncertainty surrounding both the future of the investigation and the hope that future prisoners will not face similar hardships.