Ali Younesi and Amir Moradi, prizewinning students at Tehran’s Sharif University, have been imprisoned by Iran’s intelligence service and pressured to deliver confessions.
https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-younesi-moradi-harsh-treatment/31573907.html
Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje’i, 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 Mohseni-Eje’i:
The Committee of Concerned Scientists (CCS) is an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers, and scholars devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and scientific freedom for colleagues throughout the world.
We write to express our grave concern over what appears to be the inhumane treatment and grossly unfair prosecution of two students at Sharif University, Ali Youseni and Amir Hossein Moradi.
Youseni, a computer science student at the time of his arrest, won both the silver medal in the 2016 Iranian National Astronomy Olympiad and the gold medal in the 2018 12th International Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad. Moradi, a physics student at the same university, won the silver medal in the 2017 Iranian National Astronomy Olympiad.
In April of 2020, Youseni and Moradi were violently arrested by officers of the Ministry of Intelligence and thrown into Evin prison, where they were transferred to the infamous Ward 209. For more than 22 months they have shared, with common criminals, cells that measure 2m by 4.5m. They have been blindfolded for significant amounts of time. Their time outside their cells has been limited to 20 minutes on each of three days per week. They have been mistreated in attempts to extort confessions from them.
Two court hearings have been held in their cases: One took place on July 3, 2021 and the other on January 25, 2022. The charges include the capital crime of “corruption on earth.” The charges are unsubstantiated by material evidence.
Subjecting these individuals to such inhumane treatment is itself disturbing. This treatment is especially unbecoming when visited upon talented young Iranians by a country that is known to the world as the cradle of human civilization.
Nobel laureates and scientific and human rights organizations have appealed to the government of Iran on behalf of Youseni and Moradi. CCS hereby joins them. We respectfully ask that you release Youseni and Moradi from prison and allow them to return to their careers for the benefit of the people of Iran.
We will follow this case closely.
Sincerely,
Joel L. Lebowitz, Paul H. Plotz, Walter Reich,
Eugene M. Chudnovsky, Alexander Greer
Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists