In a statement of solidarity with Omid Kokabee, 161 Iranian PhD students and graduates released an open letter demanding medical attention and due process for the imprisoned physics student. The signers included students from Tehran's Sharif University of Technology, MIT, Princeton, Johns Hopkins and Columbia, including several winners of International Science Olympiad ... Continue Reading>>
Highlights of 2014 Cases
We continued to advocate in 2014 on behalf of scientists, academics and doctors. The following are highlights of our cases so far. Unfortunately, Professor Ilham Tohti was sentenced to life in prison for his support of China's Uighur minority. In Iran, Hamid Babaei, an engineering student in Belgium, was sentenced to six years in prison, echoing the Omid Kokabee case. We are pleased to report ... Continue Reading>>
Kokabee Wins AAAS Award
As Petitions Delivered to Iran
The same day as human rights activists delivered 14,000 petition signatures, including 31 by Nobel Physics Laureates, for Omid Kokabee's release, the American Association for the Advancement of Science awarded him the prize for Freedom and Scientific Responsibility. Representatives of the human rights organization, including CCS co-chair Eugene Chudnovsky, also met with Iranian officials at the ... Continue Reading>>
31 Nobel Physics Laureates Join Iran Petitions For Kokabee
As a culmination of efforts to obtain the release of Omid Kokabee, the physics graduate student imprisoned in Iran on unsubstantiated charges, at 10:30 AM Tuesday October 28, the Committee of Concerned Scientists, Amnesty International and the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran will deliver thousands of petitions, including the Nobelists' letter, to the Iran UN Mission in New York. ... Continue Reading>>
Good News: Iran’s Supreme Court to
Reconsider Kokabee Case
Omid Kokabee’s attorney, Saeed Khalili, posted the news on his Facebook page that the Supreme Court of Iran has accepted his request for reconsideration of Omid’s case. The lawyer is confident about proving Kokabee’s innocence. It would appear that the court has vacated the sentence in effect at present. CCS is awaiting further confirmation of these hopeful developments before considering any ... Continue Reading>>
Nobel Laureates Call for Release of Iranian Physicist : Nature News Blog
Eighteen Physics Nobel laureates have signed an open letter addressed to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, calling for the release of Omid Kokabee, a 32-year-old physicist who has spent the last 3 years and 8 months in a Teheran prison. The letter is a joint initiative by Amnesty International; the Committee of Concerned Scientists (CCS), an international human-rights organization ... Continue Reading>>
Iranian Graduate Student’s Condition
Seriously Worsening in Prison
Omid Kokabee, an internationally recognized physicist serving a 10-year sentence in Iran, has not been allowed medical treatment outside Evin Prison despite his worsening kidney stone condition and stomach ailment, a source told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Kokabee, 33, who has not been allowed furlough once in the four years since his incarceration (a customary practice ... Continue Reading>>
Iranian Graduate Student in Belgium Sentenced for Scholarship Funding
In a repeat of the arrest, prosecution, and sentencing of Omid Kokabee, Hamid Babaei, an industrial engineering student in Belgium, was arrested as he attempted to return to his studies at the University of Liege. He was sentenced to six years in prison for communicating with a hostile government, apparently on the basis of his scholarship funding. CCS wrote to protest this charge, that Babaei ... Continue Reading>>
His Jail in Teheran is a School,
Says Kokabee’s Poem for Family
On the occasion of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, Omid Kokabee sent his family a poem he wrote in jail. We are posting it here with the family's permission. Kokabee, a graduate student at Texas University/Austin, is in Evin prison since 2011 for allegedly "communicating with an enemy government" and "illegal earnings." CCS and many others protested his conviction as lacking due process. In his ... Continue Reading>>
2013 Annual Report
Summaries of 2013 Cases The Committee of Concerned Scientists advocated for sixteen individuals or groups during 2013 in ten countries. This reduced caseload enabled us to focus on several individual cases in which CCS had taken the lead and fostered cooperation with other human rights organizations. We were also able to cover events concerning human rights issues that were germane to our cases ... Continue Reading>>