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.

Op-Ed on Omid Kokabee and Iran’s Uranium Enrichment Program

English: Evin House of Detention فارسی: زندان اوین

Omid Kokabee has been held at Evin House of Detention فارسی: زندان اوین (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Iranian physicist Omid Kokabee has been kept in prison since 2011 for his refusal to work on laser enrichment of uranium. Read the op-ed by Eugene Chudnovsky, Distinguished Professor of Physics, City University of New York (CUNY), and CCS Co-chair in The Washington Examiner:

On January 30, 2011, Omid Kokabee, 28, was about to board a flight to the United States at Tehran airport. He was returning to his doctoral studies at the University of Texas at Austin after spending a winter break with his family. Halfway through the gate he was stopped by Iranian intelligence officers, taken to Tehran’s Evin prison and placed in a solitary confinement.

During the 15-month pre-trial period Kokabee was not allowed any contact with the outside world. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison “for communicating with hostile government (meaning the United States) and illegal earnings (meaning his doctoral student stipend at UT-Austin)”.

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

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