Committee on Human Rights of Scientists of the New York Academy of Sciences

Human Rights

May 2, 2006

Minister of Intelligence
Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie
Ministry of Information
Second Negarestan Street
Pasdaran Avenue
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Your Excellency:

The Human Rights Committee of the New York Academy of Sciences welcomes the news that Maharam Kamrani, a medical doctor, and Ebrahim Rashidi, an engineer, are no longer being held in incommunicado detention and have been released on bail.

We want to express our concern that they are reported to be facing charges which are vaguely worded and which may infringe their internationally recognized rights to freedom of expression and association.

We respectfully await your response to this matter of great importance to our committee and to the international scientific community.

Sincerely,

Eugene Chudnovsky
Chairman, Committee on Human Rights of Scientists

April 27, 2006

Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie
Minister of Intelligence
Ministry of Information
Second Negarestan Street
Pasdaran Avenue
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Your Excellency:

I am writing to express the concern of the New York Academy of Sciences Committee on Human Rights for the safety of Maharam Kamrani, a medical doctor, and Ebrahim Rashidi, an engineer, who are reportedly being detained, incommunicado, at an Intelligence Agency facility in the city of Tabriz.

We are informed that Kamrani nand Rashidi were arrested on March 30, 2006 at a bus station in the city of Ahar in Azerbaijan province. It appears that they have been detained solely in connection with their peaceful activities for the rights of the Azeri Turk minority.

We are requesting that they be given access to their lawyers and families. We also call on authorities to release them immediately and unconditionally unless they are promptly charged with a recognizably criminal offense.

I respectfully await your response to this matter of great importance to our committee and to the international scientific community.

Sincerely,

Eugene Chudnovsky
Chairman, Committee on Human Rights of Scientists

August 4, 2005

Head of the Judiciary
His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice
Park-e Shahr
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Your Excellency:

I am writing to express the grave concern of the New York Academy of Sciences' Committee on Human Rights at the reports that Manuchehr Mohammadi has fallen into a coma, having been on hunger strike since July 6, 2005. We are urging the authorities to ensure that he receives all necessary medical attention.

We are asking you to allow him medical leave to seek treatment for his gingivitis, as has reportedly been recommended by Evin prison doctors. We are also calling on authorities to order a judicial review of the case against Manuchehr Mohammadi and to release him immediately and unconditionally if the review finds that he was imprisoned solely for the expression of his conscientiously held beliefs.

I respectfully await your response to this matter of great importance to our committee and to the international scientific community.

Founded in 1817, the New York Academy of Sciences is an independent, non-profit organization of more than 23,000 members serving science, technology, and society worldwide.

Sincerely,
Joseph L. Birman
Chairman, Committee on Human Rights of Scientists

This letter was sent to His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi, Ministry of Justice, His Excellency Hojjatoleslam val Moslemin Sayed Mohammad Khatami The Presidency, and His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei The Presidency.

April 14, 2003

His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei
The Presidency
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

Your Excellency:

I am writing to express deep concern of the New York Academy of Sciences' Committee on Human Rights regarding Amir Abbas Fakhravar, medical student, writer and journalist, who was beaten in front of Bench 26 of the Revolutionary Court, in the north of Tehran. He is currently in Qasr prison, amongst common law prisoners, where he has been denied medical treatment for severe injuries sustained in court and an existing foot injury.

Amir Abbas Fakhravar had been granted leave from Evin prison in Tehran, when he received a telephone call from Bench 26 of the Revolutionary Court in North Tehran ordering him to hear an appeal against his eight year sentence for writing a book which was critical of the Iranian State. He was ordered to appear in court on March 18, 2003, and his family were threatened in order to make him appear. When Amir Abbas Fakhravar appeared in court, he was denied representation by the two lawyers who had represented him on previous occasions. After an argument with the judge, he was beaten in front of judges, court officials and both his parents, before being transferred to prison.

We are urging the authorities to immediately give Amir Abbas Fakhravar any necessary medical treatment, legal representation, and access to his family.

We also want to remind you of your obligations under Article 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states that those deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity.

I respectfully await your response to this matter of great importance to our committee and to the international scientific community.

The New York Academy of Sciences is an independent, nonprofit, global membership organization committed to advancing science, technology, and society worldwide. Established in 1817, the Academy is the oldest scientific organization in New York, and the third oldest in the nation. It is an international organization with nearly 25,000 members in more than 150 countries.

Sincerely,

Joseph L. Birman, Chairman, Committee on Human Rights of Scientists

May 23, 2001

Leader of the Islamic Republic
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei
The Presidency, Palestine Avenue,
Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran

Your Excellency:

I am writing again to express the concern of the New York Academy of Sciences' Committee on Human Rights regarding the treatment of student leader Ali Afshari. He was in temporary detention for around 160 days and is still said to be held incommunicado, without access to his lawyer. We are seeking clarification as to the exact charges brought against Ali Afshari and the date that the appeal court hearing relating to the Berlin Conference will take place. We would also like to know the results of the investigation by the Article 90 Commission.

We are urging that all the charges against all those convicted on the basis of their participating in the Berlin Conference are reviewed and dropped upon appeal, since the existing charges do not appear to justify the convictions of the defendents.

Ali Afshari televised "confession" on May 15, 2001 implies his guilt before any trial has taken place and as such is a break of Article 11/1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

I respectfully await your response to this matter of great importance to the international academic and scientific community.

Sincerely,

Joseph L. Birman
Chairman, Committee on Human Rights of Scientists

May 31, 2001

His Excellency Hojjatoleslam val Moslemin Sayed
Mohammad Khatami
The Presidency, Palestine Avenue
Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran

Your Excellency:

I am writing to express the deep concern of the New York Academy of Sciences' Human Rights Committee regarding our colleague, Dr. Hadi Hadizadeh Yazdi, a well-known Iranian physicist and professor at the School of Sciences at the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. According to our information, Professor Hadi Hadizadeh was detained on May 12, 2001 without any explanation. His family has no news about him and his whereabouts are unknown.

We are dismayed at the alarming number of recent attacks by the government of Iran against academics and other intellectuals for attempting to exercise their rights to freedom of expression and exchange of information.

We strongly urge you to take immediate steps to end this systematic official persecution of independent thinkers, a campaign that is in clear violation of Iran's obligations under international law.

By taking these steps without delay, your government can avoid irreparable damage to Iran's international standings as a country with a great tradition of learning and scholarly inquiry and restore to Iranian society all the benefits that result from the free exchange of ideas. We urge the immediate release of Professor Hadi Hadizadeh.

I respectfully await your response to this matter of great importance to the international scientific community.

Sincerely,Joseph L. Birman
Chairman, Committee on Human Rights of Scientists

March 25, 2002

His Excellency Hojjatoleslam val Moslemin Sayed
Mohammad Khatami
The Presidency, Palestine Avenue
Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran
Islamic Republic of Iran

Your Excellency:

I am writing to express the deep concern of the New York Academy of Sciences' Committee on Human Rights over the fate of Dr. Mohammad Hossien Rafiee. Fourteen months ago the Islamic Republic of Iran arrested a number of opposition members, including Dr. Rafiee, a professor of chemistry at Tehran University since 1981. It appears that Dr. Rafiee and his colleagues have been persecuted solely for expressing their political views in a peaceful and legal manner and that the government of Iran has provided no evidence to justify their imprisonment.

Further, the fact that this trial is taking place behind closed doors without a jury makes it clear to us that it is being conducted in violation of both the Constitution of the Islamic Republic and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

We therefore appeal to you to ensure that Dr. Rafiee and his colleagues are accorded a fair and open trial in keeping with international standards of jurisprudence, leading to their prompt release. I respectfully await your response to this matter of great importance to the scientific community.

Sincerely,

Joseph L. Birman
Chairman, Committee on Human Rights of Scientists