Letter to judiciary regarding arrest of AIDS doctors

          
          PHR
          Physicians for
          Human Rights
          December 1, 2008
          His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
          Office of the Head of the Judiciary
          Pasteur Street, Vali Asr Avenue
          Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
          Your ExceLLency:
          We are writing out of deep concern for the weLL-being of two internationaLLy respected Iranian
          physicians, Drs. Arash ALaei and Kamiar ALaei, who have been detained without charge foLLowing their
          arrest by Iranian authorities in June. The ALaei doctors' work on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment
          has saved Lives and has earned Iran internationaL recognition as a modeL of best-practice.
          As internationaL medicaL Leaders and poLicy makers, we appeaL to your government to reLease these
          doctors immediateLy. As the gLobe ceLebrates WorLd AIDS Day, it is cruciaL that these two pioneers
          from the fieLd of HIV/AIDS prevention be free to practice Life-saving medicine in Iran.
          Dr. Kamiar ALaei is a doctoraL candidate at the SUNY ALbany SchooL of PubLic HeaLth in ALbany, New
          York and was expected to resume his studies there this faLL. In 2007, he received Master of Science in
          PopuLation and InternationaL HeaLth from the Harvard SchooL of PubLic HeaLth in Boston,
          Massachusetts.
          His brother, Dr. Arash ALaei, is the former Director of the InternationaL Education and Research
          Cooperation of the Iranian NationaL Research Institute of TubercuLosis and Lung Disease. Since 1998,
          Dr. Arash ALaei and Dr. Kamiar ALaei have been carrying out HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention
          programs, particuLarLy focused on harm reduction for injecting drug users.
          In addition to their work in Iran, the ALaei brothers have heLd training courses for Afghan and Tajik
          medicaL workers and have worked to encourage regionaL cooperation among 12 MiddLe Eastern and
          CentraL Asian countries. They were key organizers of a tn-nationaL meeting in 2004 in Tehran to
          discuss harm reduction and substitution treatment in Iran, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Their efforts
          expanded the expertise of doctors in the region, advanced the progress of medicaL science, and
          earned Iran recognition as a modeL of best practice by the WorLd HeaLth Organization. Sharing
          knowLedge across borders for the better treatment of diseases is not a crime, it is good medicine.
          A number of journaLists, academics and MusLim advocates raised the ALaeis' case with President
          Ahmadinejad during his September 2008 visit to the UN, and a vigiL for their reLease was heLd by a
          group of medicaL coLLeagues in New York. More than three thousand heaLth professionaLs and
          concerned citizens have appeaLed to Iranian authorities for the reLease of these compassionate and
          caring physicians. We urge the Government of the IsLamic RepubLic of Iran to end the ALaeis' unjust
          detention immediateLy. Each day they are in prison is another day Iranian patients suffer from the
          absence of two great medicaL minds.
          SincereLy,
          Atul Gawande MD, MPH
          MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant recipient 2006
          Surgeon, Brigham and Women s HospitaL
          Assoc. Professor, Harvard MedicaL SchooL
          Assoc. Professor, Harvard SchooL of PubLic HeaLth
          Physicians for Human Rights I 2 Arrow St. Suite 301 I cambridge, MA 02138 I 617-301 -4200
        

          
          Hossam E. Fadel MD
          Ethics committee Chairman, IsLamic MedicaL Association of North America
          Editor, JournaL of the Indian MedicaL Association
          Wafaa El-Sadr MD, MPH
          MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant recipient 2008
          Director, InternationaL Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs
          CoLumbia University
          Sir Richard Roberts PhD, FRS
          1993 NobeL Laureate in Medicine
          Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, New EngLand BioLabs
          Paul Farmer, MD, PhD
          PresLey Professor, Department of GLobaL HeaLth and SociaL Medicine, Harvard MedicaL School
          Associate Chief, Division of GLobaL HeaLth Equity, Brigham and Women's Hospital
          Co-founder, Partners In HeaLth
          Givi Javashvili, MD, PhD
          Professor and Head of FamiLy Medicine Department
          TbiLisi State MedicaL University Chairman
          Georgian HeaLth Law and Bioethics Society
          Professor Michel Kazatchkine
          Executive Director
          The GLobaL Fund to Fight Aids, TB and MaLaria
          Professor Adeeba Kamaruizaman
          Head of Infectious Diseases
          University of MaLaya
          KuaLa Lumpur, MaLaysia
          Dr. Peter Mugyenyi
          Executive Director, Joint CLinicaL Research Center, KampaLa Uganda
          ChanceLLor of Mbarara University of Science and TechnoLogy, Mbarara Uganda
          Physicians for Human Rights I 2 Arrow St. Suite 301 I cambridge, MA 02138 I 617-301 -4200 2