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Wife Pleads for Release of Princeton Student Incarcerated in Iran While Doing Research on Dissertation

July 1, 2019

Hua Qu, the wife of Xiyue Wang, is pleading for help to have her husband released from Evin Prison in Iran. In late May Xiyue Wang marked his 1,000 day of incarceration unjustly imprisoned in Iran. Wang, a PhD candidate in Princeton University’s history department was arrested and accused of espionage in August 2016 while conducting pre-approved research for his doctoral dissertation. Wang was comparing national boundaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His research had been approved by the Iranian government, allowing him to review manuscripts that are over a century old. The documents had nothing to do with contemporary Iranian politics, nor were they confidential. Qu wrote an article for the Washington Post imploring China, Iran and the US to assist in the release of her husband. (My husband is unjustly imprisoned in Iran. The international community must help., Washington Post, May 24, 2019, Hua Qu). The United Nations experts have also requested Iran to immediately release Wang noting that his detention is arbitrary and a clear violation of fundamental rights guaranteed under international law. (UN experts urge Iran to release imprisoned American scholar Xiyue Wang)

Filed Under: Iran Tagged With: imprisoned, Prison, student, wang, Xiyue, Xiyue Wang

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* Nobel laureate

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