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Swedish Scientist Incarcerated In Iran Needs Immediate Medical Care

May 23, 2019

Ahmedreza Djalali, a Swedish scientist/physician/lecturer for emergency and disaster medicine has been sentenced and incarcerated in Iran for allegedly spying. He is, at this time, very ill and in need of emergency medical care.

May 25, 2019

Ali Alghasi Mehr
Prosecutor General of Tehran
Corner (Nabsh-e) of 15 Khordad Square
Tehran, Iran

Dear Prosecutor General Mehr:
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 to express, in the strongest possible terms, our concern for our colleague, Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali, who has been sentenced to death in Iran after a grossly unfair trial. It is our understanding that he is now very ill. We urge you to take all possible steps to support Ahmadreza and to ensure that he is transferred to a public hospital for urgent medical care and possible surgery.

Dr. Djalali is a dual citizen of Sweden and Iran who, before his arrest in Iran, resided with his family in Sweden and taught Disaster Medicine in Italy for a Master’s Degree program organized jointly by the Università̀ degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale and the Vrije Universiteit in Brussels, Belgium.

He was convicted in a revolutionary court overseen by Judge Abolqasem Salavati on espionage charges, specifically spying on Iran for Israel. He was sentenced to death on October 21, 2017. Following his arrest in Tehran in April 2016, he was held in solitary confinement, subjected to abuse, denied access to a lawyer of his choice, and forced to sign a confession.
 
We are unaware of any evidence supporting the accusations against him. It is very unclear to us why he has been targeted in this manner, but our main concern now is his health, which we are told is deteriorating significantly. Over 130 Nobel Laureates recently appealed to the government of Iran on Dr. Djalali’s behalf.

Please do whatever you can to ensure that he receives immediate, proper and adequate medical care, including granting his request for hospitalization at a public medical facility, and any surgery he may require as well as having time to receive adequate care, should he need surgery, and time to recuperate.

We thank you for your attention to this most serious matter, and we look forward to receiving your response.

Sincerely,
Joel L. Lebowitz, Paul H. Plotz, Walter Reich, Eugene M. Chudnovsky, Alexander Greer
Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

cc:
H.E. Gholamali Khoshroo
Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
622 Third Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Phone: (212) 687-2020
Fax: (212) 867-7086
Email: iran@un.int

Filed Under: Iran, Prominent Cases Tagged With: Ahmedreza, Ahmedreza Djalali, Djalali, emergency, ill

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

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