Ali Younesi, a Computer Science Student at Sharif Industrial University in Tehran was arrested for unknown reasons on April 10th along with award winning Physics student, Amir-Hossein Moradi. CCS has written the Chief Justice of Iran inquiring of their charge and current status. A group of Nobel prize winners has also written to The United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights to address this matter (attached). Eugene Chudnovsky, Co-Chair of CCS has written an article in the Washington Examiner addressing this case (Link below).
May 21, 2020
Sayyid Ebrahim Raisol-Sadati
Chief Justice of Iran
Ministry of Justice of the Islamic Republic of Iran
1638 Vali-e Asr Avenue
South of Vali-e Asr Square
Tehran, Iran 14167-83595
Fax: 93-21-889-093-46
Dear Chief Justice Raisol-Sadati:
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 our grave concern for Ali Younesi, a 20-year-old computer science student at Sharif Industrial University in Tehran, who was arrested on April 10 for unknown reasons. According to his sister and brother, Ali was arrested in his home by up to a dozen men and was hit in the head and bleeding when taken away.
Ali has a bright academic future – he won the gold medal at the International Astronomy Olympiad in 2018. Reportedly, another promising scholar, award winning physics student Amir-Hossein Moradi, has also been arrested.
The protection of the human rights of scientists and other academics, including students, is vital, and we seek to ensure that the rights of Ali Younesi and Amir-Hossein Moradi are respected.
Therefore, please clarify for us the reasons for these arrests.
We consider these young students to be our colleagues, and if there is not a legitimate legal justification for their arrests, then your government is obligated to release them immediately and unconditionally. Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which your government has ratified, states clearly: “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention.”
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
Twitter: @Iran_UN
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Hassan Rouhani
The Presidency
Pasteur Street, Pasteur Square
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: media@rouhani.ir
Twitter: @HassanRouhani (English) and @Rouhani_ir (Persian)
Letter from Nobel winners:
Letter of Nobel Laureates to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on two arrested elite Iranian students
May 15, 2020
URGENT
Hon. Michelle Bachelet
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Geneva, Switzerland
Dear Ms. Bachelet,
Re: Two students of Sharif University of Technology
As you are probably aware, the Iranian “judiciary” announced after 26 days of silence that Amir Hossein Moradi and Ali Younesi, two award-winning students at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, had been arrested for their opposition to the Iranian regime.
Mr. Younesi won the gold medal of the 12th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics in 2018. Earlier, he had won the silver and gold medals of the National Astronomy Olympiad in 2016 and 2017. Mr. Moradi also won the silver medal in the Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics in 2017. They are accused of sympathizing with the PMOI/MEK opposition.
Terrified of another uprising, the Iranian regime finds no other option than resorting to intimidation and suppression of citizens.
Adding to the severity of the issue at this time is the spread of COVID-19 in Iranian prisons that exposes these and all other detainees to the deadly virus.
The practice of the Iranian security forces is to extort confessions with torture. Many experts on the Iranian human rights situation fear that the arrest of Ali Younesi and Amir Hossein Moradi will serve to prepare the ground for a widespread and brutal repression of all opponents, in particular of the student movement, which would amount to an egregious breach of human rights in the post‐Coronavirus months.
We, the Nobel Laureates signing this letter, urge you, to use your good offices in making every effort to ensure that political prisoners, in particular Ali Younesi and Amir Hossein Moradi, are released immediately.
Signatories:
Professor Barry Barish, Nobel Prize, Physics 2017, USA
Professor Thomas Cech, Nobel Prize, Chemistry 1989, USA
Professor Elias Corey, Nobel Prize, Chemistry 1990, USA
Professor Jerome Friedman, Nobel Prize, Physics 1986, USA
Professor Sheldon Glashow, Nobel Prize, Physics, 1979, USA
Professor John Lewis Hall, Nobel Prize, Physics 2005, USA
Professor John Mather, Nobel Prize, Physics 2006, USA
John Polanyi, Nobel Prize, Chemistry 1986, Canada
Professor Richard Roberts, Nobel Prize, Medicine 19
Dr. Chudnovsky’s Article: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/iran-is-using-the-pandemic-as-cover-for-cracking-down-on-intellectuals
