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
