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.
You are here: Home / CCS Cases / Iran / Wife Pleads for Release of Princeton Student Incarcerated in Iran While Doing Research on Dissertation

Wife Pleads for Release of Princeton Student Incarcerated in Iran While Doing Research on Dissertation

Hua Qu, the wife of Xiyue Wang, is pleading for help to have her husband released from Evin Prison in Iran. In late May Xiyue Wang marked his 1,000 day of incarceration unjustly imprisoned in Iran. Wang, a PhD candidate in Princeton University’s history department was arrested and accused of espionage in August 2016 while conducting pre-approved research for his doctoral dissertation. Wang was comparing national boundaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His research had been approved by the Iranian government, allowing him to review manuscripts that are over a century old. The documents had nothing to do with contemporary Iranian politics, nor were they confidential. Qu wrote an article for the Washington Post imploring China, Iran and the US to assist in the release of her husband. (My husband is unjustly imprisoned in Iran. The international community must help., Washington Post, May 24, 2019, Hua Qu). The United Nations experts have also requested Iran to immediately release Wang noting that his detention is arbitrary and a clear violation of fundamental rights guaranteed under international law. (UN experts urge Iran to release imprisoned American scholar Xiyue Wang)

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 – 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