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.

Release Omid Kokabee from Prison

Omid Kokabee, Scientist imprisoned in Iran

Omid Kokabee, a graduate student at University of Texas, Austin who has been in prison in Iran for over five years, has been diagnosed with kidney cancer. Surgery was performed on Tuesday, April 19th. CCS wrote Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, Attorney General of Iran, requesting Omid’s release so that he may recuperate at his family home upon discharge from the hospital.

April 20, 2016

To: Mohammad Jafar Montazeri
Prosecutor General
Republic of Iran

From: Committee of Concerned Scientists

Dear Prosecutor General Montazeri:

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 are writing to thank you for transferring Omid Kokabee to a hospital where he could obtain quality care for his very serious medical condition. Omid has been ill since 2011 and CCS has been writing in an effort to get someone in authority to identify his condition and get him proper medical attention as opposed to treating his symptoms with pain medication. We are grateful that has now happened, and we are hoping that it is not too late. We are optimistic and hopeful that today’s surgery went well.

At this time, CCS is asking you to do everything in your power to achieve unconditional release of Omid Kokabee to the care of his family, so that he can continue to obtain the post-surgery treatment of his cancer.

Joel L. Lebowitz, Paul H. Plotz, Walter Reich,
Eugene M. Chudnovsky, Alexander Greer

Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

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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

Public Affairs and Administrative Office
Carol Valoris, Executive Director
PO Box 3708 Silver Spring, MD  20918
Phone: (202) 812-8074
carolvaloris@concernedscientists.org