October 17, 2021 marks 2000 days since Ahmadreza Djalali, a medical doctor, dual citizen of Sweden in Iran, was imprisoned in Tehran. He has been tortured, kept in solitary confinement, and brought to near-death existence. His wife and two children have been severely impacted by that.
Djalali worked at the Karolinska Medical University in Stockholm, held research positions in Italy and Belgium, directed two European projects on threat identification and emergency response by hospitals to terrorist attacks, and served as a coordinator of the Iranian National Center for Medical Response to HAZMAT.
In 2016 he was on a research visit to Iran when he was detained by security forces and incarcerated in Tehran’s Evin prison. Prior to these events, two agents of the Iranian military intelligence approached him in Stockholm with a request for information about European critical infrastructure and counter-terrorism operational plans. Djalali refused to provide information.
For months he was interrogated by Iranian intelligence officers. His manufactured confession to helping Mossad assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists was aired on national TV. In protest, he held two hunger strikes, one that lasted 42 days and the other 43 days.
In 2017, the Iranian Revolutionary Court sentenced Djalali to death. He has remained on death row ever since. European leaders, academic institutions, human rights organizations, and 153 Nobel laureates have appealed to Iran’s Supreme Leader on Djalali’s behalf.