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.

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Worldwide Alert: Medical Doctor, Ahmadreza Djalali, Who Was Sentenced to Death in Iran in 2017, Taken from Prison Cell to Undisclosed Location

August 3, 2019

On July 29, Ahmadreza Djalali, dual citizen of Iran and Sweden, sentenced to death on a bogus charge of “cooperation with hostile government” in 2017, was taken out of Evin prison in Tehran to an isolated cell at an undisclosed location.  Djalali was blindfolded before the relocation and the purpose for this is unknown.

Director of European Projects on Disaster Medicine, Djalali was arrested by Iranian Intelligence while attending a science meeting in Iran in 2016. His false confession, extracted under torture and threat of imminent execution, was aired by the Iranian state TV. Djalali later publicly denounced his confession, denied all charges, and maintained his innocence. In 2018, over 120 Nobel Laureates appealed to the Supreme Leader of Iran on Djalali’s behalf.

Djalali’s family is worried that his relocation manifests another attempt by Iran to extract his false confession and may be a prelude to his execution. The Committee of Concerned Scientists is calling for worldwide action to save the life of Ahmadreza Djalali.

Request his immediate release. Send an email message to:

  1. Hassan Rouhani, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran: media@rouhani.ir
  2. Permanent Mission of Iran to the United Nations:  iran@un.int 

Letter from Nobel Laureates sent on December 9, 2018 to the Supreme Leader:

9th December, 2018

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Via the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
622 Third Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10017

Dear Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei:

In November 2017, and again in February 2018, I wrote on behalf of a consortium of Nobel Laureates about the plight of a medical scholar,
Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali, who was arrested on an academic visit to Tehran in April 2016. We now hear that his medical condition is declining rapidly and he is in hospital and in desperate need of the best possible medical care. In light of the evidence of which we are aware, he deserves a fair trial, which should lead to his release.

We now have 121 Nobel Laureates supporting this cause, and we would urge you to attend to this case personally and make sure that Dr. Djalali is treated humanely and fairly and is released as soon as possible.

We respectfully request that you direct the Iranian authorities to allow Dr. Djalali to return home to his wife and children and continue his scholarly work for the benefit of mankind.

Yours sincerely,

Sir Richard Roberts Ph.D., F.R.S.

121 Laureates

Name                                                       Category          Prize Year

Peter Agre                                               Chemistry         2003

George A. Akerlof                                    Economics        2001

Hiroshi Amano                                         Physics              2014

Robert J. Aumann                                    Economics        2005

Barry Clark Barish                                   Physics              2017

Francoise Barre-Sinoussi                         Medicine          2008

J. Georg Bednorz                                     Physics            1987

J. Michael Bishop                                     Medicine          1989

Gunter Blobel                                          Medicine          1999

Sydney Brenner                                       Medicine          2002

William C. Campbell                                Medicine          2015

Thomas R. Cech                                       Chemistry         1989

Martin Chalfie                                         Chemistry         2008

Aaron Ciechanover                                  Chemistry         2004

Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio                 Literature         2008

J. M. Coetzee                                           Literature          2003

Claude Cohen-Tannoudji                         Physics              1997

Elias James Corey                                    Chemistry         1990

Robert F. Curl Jr.                                      Chemistry         1996

Johann Deisenhofer                                Chemistry         1988

Shirin Ebadi                                             Peace                2003

Gerhard Ertl                                             Chemistry         2007

Andrew Z. Fire                                         Medicine          2006

Edmond H. Fischer                                  Medicine          1992

Joachim Frank                                         Chemistry         2017

Jerome I. Friedman                                 Physics              1990

Leymah Roberta Gbowee                        Peace                2011

Andre Geim                                             Physics              2010

Walter Gilbert                                         Chemistry         1980

Sheldon Glashow                                     Physics              1979

Paul Greengard                                       Medicine          2000

Carol W. Greider                                     Medicine          2009

David J. Gross                                          Physics              2004

Robert H. Grubbs                                     Chemistry         2005

Roger Guillemin                                      Medicine          1977

Sir John B. Gurdon                                   Medicine          2012

John L. Hall                                              Physics              2005

Serge Haroche                                         Physics              2012

Oliver Hart                                               Economics        2016

Leland H. Hartwell                                   Medicine          2001

Dudley R. Herschbach                             Chemistry         1986

Avram Hershko                                        Chemistry         2004

Jules A. Hoffmann                                   Medicine          2011

Roald Hoffmann                                      Chemistry         1981

H. Robert Horvitz                                     Medicine           2002

Robert Huber                                           Chemistry         1988

Tim Hunt                                                  Medicine          2001

Louis J. Ignarro                                        Medicine          1998

Elfriede Jelinek                                        Literature         2004

Brian D. Josephson                                   Physics           1973

Takaaki Kajita                                          Physics              2015

Eric R. Kandel                                           Medicine          2000

Tawakkul Karman                                    Peace                2011

Wolfgang Ketterle                                   Physics              2001

F.W. de Klerk                                           Peace                1993

Klaus von Klitzing                                    Physics              1985

Brian K. Kobilka                                       Chemistry         2012

Roger D. Kornberg                                   Chemistry         2006

Finn E. Kydland                                        Economics        2004

Yuan T. Lee                                              Chemistry         1986

Anthony J. Leggett                                  Physics              2003

Jean-Marie Lehn                                      Chemistry         1987

Michael Levitt                                          Chemistry         2013

Tomas Lindahl                                         Chemistry         2015

Robert E. Lucas Jr.                                   Economics        1995

Eric S. Maskin                                          Economics        2007

John C. Mather                                        Physics              2006

Daniel L. McFadden                                 Economics        2000

Craig C. Mello                                          Medicine          2006

Robert C. Merton                                    Economics        1997

Hartmut Michel                                       Chemistry         1988

Patrick Modiano                                      Literature         2014

Paul L. Modrich                                       Chemistry         2015

William E. Moerner                                 Chemistry         2014

Edvard Moser                                          Medicine          2014

May-Britt Moser                                      Medicine          2014

Herta Muller                                            Literature         2009

Kary B. Mullis                                          Chemistry         1993

Robert A. Mundell                                   Economics        1999

Alice Munro                                             Literature         2013

Ferid Murad                                            Medicine          1998

Erwin Neher                                            Medicine          1991

Douglas D. Osheroff                                Physics              1996

Orhan Pamuk                                           Literature         2006

Arno Penzias                                            Physics              1978

Edmund S. Phelps                                    Economics        2006

John C. Polanyi                                        Chemistry         1986

H. David Politzer                                      Physics             2004

Stanley B. Prusiner                                  Medicine          1997

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan                   Chemistry         2009

Jose Ramos-Horta                                   Peace                1996

Sir Richard J. Roberts                               Medicine          1993

Jean-Pierre Sauvage                                Chemistry         2016

Randy W. Schekman                                Medicine          2013

Richard R. Schrock                                   Chemistry         2005

Phillip A. Sharp                                        Medicine          1993

K. Barry Sharpless                                   Chemistry         2001

Vernon L. Smith                                       Economics        2002

Hamilton O. Smith                                   Medicine          1978

Wole Soyinka                                           Literature         1986

A. Michael Spence                                    Economics      2001

Thomas A. Steitz                                      Chemistry         2009

John E. Sulston                                         Medicine          2002

Jack W. Szostak                                        Medicine          2009

Joseph H. Taylor Jr.                                 Physics              1993

Kip Stephen Thorne                                 Physics              2017

Mario Vargas Llosa                                  Literature         2010

Harold E. Varmus                                    Medicine          1989

Sir John E. Walker                                   Chemistry         1997

J. Robin Warren                                       Medicine           2005

Arieh Warshel                                          Chemistry         2013

Steven Weinberg                                     Physics              1979

Rainer Weiss                                            Physics              2017

Eric F. Wieschaus                                     Medicine          1995

Torsten N. Wiesel                                    Medicine          1981

Frank Wilczek                                          Physics              2004

Jody Williams                                          Peace                1997

Oliver E. Williamson                                Economics        2009

Robert Woodrow Wilson                        Physics              1978

Sir Gregory P. Winter                              Chemistry         2018

Michael W. Young                                   Medicine            2017

Filed Under: CCS Cases, Iran Tagged With: Ahmadreza Djalali, Djalali, Execution, Physician, Sweden

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Joel L. Lebowitz, Rutgers University

Walter Reich, George Washington University

Eugene Chudnovsky, Lehman College

Alexander Greer, Brooklyn College

Vice-chairs

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Honorary Board Members

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Myles Axton, Chief Editor, Genetics and Genomics Next

David Baltimore, California Institute of Technology*

Alan J. Bard, University of Texas

David Gross, University of California, Santa Barbara*

James Langer, University of California, Santa Barbara

Peter Lax, New York University

Giorgio Parisi, Roma I University La Sapienza

John C. Polanyi, University of Toronto*

Stuart Rice, University of Chicago

Sir Richard J. Roberts, New England Biolabs*

Maxine Singer, Carnegie Institution of Washington

Alfred I. Tauber, Boston University

Myrna Weissman, Columbia University

Former Honorary Board Members

Jacob Bigeleisen (deceased), SUNY, Stony Brook

Raoul Bott (deseased) Harvard University

Owen Chamberlain (deceased), University of California, Berkeley

Stanley Deser (deceased), Brandeis University

Edward Gerjuoy (deceased), University of Pittsburgh

Pierre Hohenberg (deceased), New York University

Walter Kohn (deceased), University of California, Santa Barbara*

Louis Nirenberg (deceased), New York University

Marshall Nirenberg (deceased), National Institutes of Health*

Myriam Sarachick (deceased), City College of New York

Harold Scheraga (deceased), Cornell University

Sylvan Schweber (deceased), Brandeis University

Steven Weinberg (deceased), University of Texas, Austin*

Rosalyn S. Yalow (deceased), Mount Sinai School of Medicine*

* Nobel laureate

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