P} . Calls “Confessions” in Trial of Irardan ADS Doctors Tainted ar U.. http://pliysiciansforhunEnrights ,org/library/news-2009-Ol-21 ,ltT ll
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January 21, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PHR Calls “Confessions” in Trial of Iranian AIDS
Doctors Tainted and Unreliable
Media Contacts:
Jonathan Hutson
jhutson [ at] phrusa [ dot] org
Tel: (617) 301-4210
Cell: (857) 919-5130
(Cambridge, Mass.) — Physicians for
Human Rights is deepLy concerned
that purported confessions that
I I
have been used by Iranian
authorities to convict and sentence
Dr. Kamiar ALaei and Dr. Arash ALaei may have been forcibLy
extracted.
Sources cLose to the triaL have toLd PHR that one of the brothers had
agreed under duress to make a videotaped statement prepared by
Iranian authorities, who had promised that if he read the statement,
both brothers wouLd be set free.
PHR CAMPAIGNS
Said Jonathan Hutson, J.D., Chief Communications Officer for PHR,
“Given the isoLation, months without charge and perfunctory triaL, and
the interrogation techniques and duress known to exist in other cases
Like this one in Iran, any purported confession in the triaL of the ALaei
brothers must be viewed as tainted and unreLiabLe. The brothers have
been heLd in Evin prison since Late June 2008.
According to a press reLease issued today from the InternationaL
Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, the mother of Arash and Kamiar
ALaei recentLy broke her siLence in an interview with Iranian news
media. The press reLease stated that the mother toLd Rooz OnLine that
her sons had been heLd for 63 days in soLitary confinement and that
she feared that they might be tortured to coerce faLse confessions on
camera.
The brothers have been charged with communicating with an enemy
government — charges which PHR has LabeLed iLLegitimate and
poLiticaLLy motivated — as weLL as with secret charges which have not
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03/08 2010 13:45
P} . Calls “Confessions” in Trial of Irardan ADS Doctors Tainted aixt U,., http://pliysiciansforhun'Enrigl ls.org/library/news-2009-Ol-21.lt'1l
yet been made pubLic. Kamiar and Arash have been sentenced to
terms of three and six years respectiveLy. They wiLL serve their
sentences in Evin prison. Their attorney pLans to fiLe an appeaL; he has
20 days from January 20 to do so. According to their attorney, the
brothers categoricaLLy deny the charges against them.
“If due process means anything, it means the right to know the
charges, hear the evidence, and face the accuser,” said Hutson. “The
Ataei brothers' secret summary triaL was marked by vioLations of due
process ruLes outLined in the Iranian constitution and penaL code, as
weLL as those in internationaL human rights Law.”
Leading physicians, pubLic heaLth speciaLists and numerous medicaL
and scientific organizations have pubLicLy caLLed for the brothers'
reLease. These incLude HIV/AIDS and heaLth experts Luminaries such as
GLobaL Fund Executive Director Professor MicheL Kazatchkine; Partners
in HeaLth co-founder Dr. PauL Farmer; 2008 MacArthur Foundation
Genius Grant recipient Wafaa EL-Sadr, MD, MPH; Hossam E. FadeL, MD,
of the IsLamic MedicaL Association of North America; 1993 NobeL
Laureate in Medicine Sir Richard Roberts PhD, FRS; and Ugandan AIDS
pioneer Dr. Peter Mugyenyi.
“PHR and the thousands of medicaL and pubLic heaLth practitioners
from across the gLobe who support Kamiar and Arash are devastated,
dismayed and disgusted by these sentences,” said Sarah KaLLoch, PHR's
Director of Outreach. “You cannot combat infectious disease without
working in a gLobaL network. Iranian scientists need to be free to share
ideas and best practices with coLLeagues around the worLd without
fear of persecution, or the heaLth of the Iranian peopLe wiLL suffer.”
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) mobilizes the health professions to
advance the health and dignity of all people by protecting human
rights. As a founding member of the International Campaign to Ban
Landmines, PHR shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.
Date posted: January 21, 2009
Last updated: June 22, 2009
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