Committee of Concerned Scientists

An international non-profit organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars dedicated to protecting the human rights and scientific freedom of our colleagues around the world.

An independent non-profit organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars dedicated to protecting the human rights and scientific freedom of our colleagues around the world.
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Ayatollah Khamenei Should Pardon Kokabee, CCS Says, Alleging “Tragic Misunderstanding”

May 26, 2012

CCS wrote a letter to the Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in response to the May 13th conviction of Omid Kokabee, an Iranian graduate student at the University of Texas, Austin. Kokabee was sentenced to 10 years in prison for “communicating with a hostile government”. The letter stated that “there has been a tragic misunderstanding in this case, in which a promising young Iranian scientist was convicted of a grave charge without proof of wrongdoing. His sentence also threatens the ability of Iran to continue its great tradition of sending many Iranians for studies abroad and to engage in international scientific collaborations.”

Read the letter:

Our Previous Activities

Iranian Graduate Student at Texas U/Austin Sentenced to 10-years for Espionage in Iran

Omid Kokabee Petition Sent to Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i

Kokabee Imprisonment Creates Grave Concerns for Iranian Students in US, CCS Reports to Secretary Clinton

CCS Requests the Release of Iranian Graduate Student

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
c/o H.E. Mr. Mohammad Khazaee, Ambassador of Iran to the United Nations
Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
662 Third Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY  10017

May 21, 2012

Your Eminence:

The Committee of Concerned Scientists is an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and scientific freedom for colleagues all over the world. We write now in concern for Omid Kokabee.

On July 14, 2011, we wrote an open letter to ask Your Eminence to correct a grave mistake made by the government officials in jailing Omid Kokabee, an Iranian doctoral student at the University of Texas – Austin. Kokabee was arrested at Tehran airport on a visit of his parents last winter. We understand from news reports that Kokabee was recently sentenced to 10 years in jail for “communicating with a hostile government,” ater a group trial of 10 or 15 people. Kokabee and others were convicted of a general charge of collaborating with Israel’s intelligence agency. While the other accused had confessed under pressure to the accusations on Iranian television, Kokabee has steadfastly denied all charges since he was first imprisoned.

Our contacts with Omid Kokabee’s professors and fellow students at the University of Texas, as well as at the Institute of Photonic Sciences in Barcelona, Spain, where Kokabee obtained his Masters Degree in optics before coming to Texas, all confirm that he was dedicated to his studies and refrained from engaging in politics. He was paid for his teaching assistantship with regular support package provided to all first-year U.S. and international doctoral students by the University of Texas and not by the United States Government or any of its agencies. Some reports indicate that Kokabee might have been suspected in the exchange of information on nuclear technology. As scientists, we can assure you, that his research and studies had nothing to do with nuclear energy. His education and his Ph.D. project are in optics. He appears to be a talented young scientist whose studies have been interrupted for no good reason.

We believe, as we did when we first wrote to you, that there has been a tragic misunderstanding in this case, in which a promising young Iranian scientist was convicted of a grave charge without proof of wrongdoing. His sentence also threatens the ability of Iran to continue its great tradition of sending many Iranians for studies abroad and to engage in international scientific collaborations. We hope that you will exercise your power to pardon Omid. Kokabee and allow him to return to his doctoral studies abroad, as well as to travel freely to his native country.

Sincerely,

Eugene Chudnovsky
Alexander Greer
Joel Lebowitz
Walter Reich
Paul Plotz

Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

Filed Under: Iran Tagged With: Omid Kokabee, Scientists

Who We Are

Co-chairs

Joel L. Lebowitz, Rutgers University

Paul H. Plotz, M.D., Washington, DC

Walter Reich, George Washington University

Eugene Chudnovsky, Lehman College

Alexander Greer, Brooklyn College

Vice-chairs

Astronomy – Arno Penzias, New Enterprises Associates*

Biology – Max E. Gottesman, Columbia University

Chemistry – Zafra Lerman, MIMSAD Inc.

Computer Science – Rachelle Heller, The George Washington University

Computer Science – Jack Minker, University of Maryland, College Park

Engineering – Philip Sarachik, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering

Mathematics – Simon Levin, Princeton University

Medical Sciences – J. Joseph Blum, Duke University

Honorary Board Members

Nancy Andrews, Duke University

David Baltimore, California Institute of Technology*

Alan J. Bard, University of Texas

Jacob Bigeleisen (deceased), SUNY, Stony Brook

Raoul Bott (deceased), Harvard University

Owen Chamberlain (deceased), University of California, Berkeley

Stanley Deser, Brandeis University

Edward Gerjuoy, University of Pittsburg

David Gross, (2004 Nobel Prize in Physics), Kavil Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara*

Pierre Hohenberg (deceased), New York University

Walter Kohn (deceased), University of California, Santa Barbara*

James Langer, University of California, Santa Barbara

Peter Lax, New York University

Louis Nirenberg, New York University

Marshall Nirenberg (deceased), National Institutes of Health*

Honorary Board Members

John C. Polanyi, University of Toronto*

Stuart Rice, University of Chicago

Sir Richard J. Roberts, (1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology & Medicine), New England Biolabs*

Myriam Sarachick, City College of New York

Harold Scheraga, Cornell University

Sylvan Schweber (deceased), Brandeis University

Maxine Singer, Carnegie Institution of Washington

Alfred I. Tauber, Boston University

Steven Weinberg, University of Texas, Austin*

Myrna Weissman, Columbia University

Rosalyn S. Yalow (deceased), Mount Sinai School of Medicine*

* Nobel laureate

Protests in Kiev, Ukraine on January 22, 2014. Photo by Amakuha via Wikimedia Commons

A Call to Action

COB of The Swedish Association of Higher Education Institutions and the President of the German Rectors’ Conference Sent Joint Letter for Iran to Lift Death Sentence and Release Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali; Rectors of Brussels Two Universities Concur

April 6, 2021

Condition worsens for Ahmadreza Djalali, Swedish-Iranian Lecturer, sentenced for execution in Iran. Health has badly deteriorated. Is in solitary ... Continue Reading>>

Committee of Concerned Scientists

c/o Alexandra R. Bender, Executive Director
P.O. Box 4525
Easton, PA 18043
Phone: (570) 994-2093
abender@concernedscientists.org

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