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 IranFrom: 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 GreerCo-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists
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