Iranian-American scholar Kian Tajbakshs, a sociologist and urban planner, was arrested in July 2009. An Iranian Revolutionary court convicted him in October of fomenting unrest against the government and sentenced him to 15 years in prison, although he denied all of these charges. We have now learned that Iran has brought new charges of espionage against Kian Tajbakhsh. Dr. Tajbakhsh was originally convicted on charges of ‘acting against national security’ and the courts have reportedly refused to file his appeal. His family have denied that the 47-year-old was involved in the post-election protests and stated that he was monitored by Iranian security since his earlie arrest in 2007. Dr Tajbakhsh has been in solitary confinement for several months and he may now face a harsher penalty following these fresh charges. The Presidency of the European Union and the U.S White House have both released statements condemning the sentencing and expressing concern about reports about the new charges. We urged the Iranian authorities to disavow these new charges, reverse the previous 15 year prison sentence, and allow Tajbakhsh to rejoin his family and take up his duties as a University professor in Iran and the United States.
Who We Are
Co-chairs
Joel L. Lebowitz, Rutgers University
Walter Reich, George Washington University
Eugene Chudnovsky, Lehman College
Alexander Greer, Brooklyn College
Vice-chairs
Biology – Max E. Gottesman, Columbia University
Chemistry – Zafra Lerman, MIMSAD Inc.
Computer Science – Rachelle Heller, The George Washington University
Engineering – Philip Sarachik, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering
Computer Science – Jack Minker, University of Maryland, College Park
Mathematics – Simon Levin, Princeton University
Honorary Board Members
Nancy Andrews, Duke University
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