Doctors Kamiar and Arash Alaei's arrival concludes 3-year campaign spearheaded by PHR
Cambridge, Mass. - 10/22/2011 - Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) today
announced the arrival of prominent Iranian AIDS doctors Arash Alaei and Kamiar Alaei in the US following 3 years in prison in Tehran.
During their imprisonment, PHR spearheaded a 3-year international campaign which called for their release and engaged hundreds of
leading AIDS experts, virologists and health organizations. In late 2010, Dr. Kamiar Alaei was released and Dr. Arash Alaei was
released last month.
Drs. Arash and Kamiar Alaei were arrested in June 2008 and wrongfully convicted in January 2009 on charges of
communicating with an enemy government. The Iranian government used the doctors' travel to international AIDS conferences and
meetings with colleagues in the United States as a basis for the charges.
"PHR, along with other members of the health and human rights community, have been working tirelessly to secure the release of Arash
and Kamiar for more than three years," said Susannah Sirkin, Deputy Director of PHR. "Doctors and other health professionals all over the
world often face persecution for simply doing their job, and PHR has a long history of advocating on behalf of these doctors for
justice and accountability."
PHR, together with other doctors and public health workers in dozens of countries around the world, organized
Global Days of Action and contacted Iranian embassies to press for the release of the Alaei brothers. PHR organized the campaign to free
the Alaeis and hosted iranfreethedocs.org, where supporters from around the world posted videos and messages of support.
"Knowing that PHR and its members were working on our behalf sustained us when all seemed lost," said Dr. Kamiar
Alaei. "PHR is the one organization that uses the expertise and voice of doctors such as Arash and me to help protect human rights around
the world.
In June, Dr. Kamiar Alaei accepted the Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights on behalf of both brothers. In July,
at the annual International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Rome, Dr. Kamiar Alaei spoke
for the first time since his release about his work at a press conference hosted by PHR and International AIDS Society.
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Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is an independent, non-profit organization that uses medical and scientific expertise
to investigate human rights violations and advocate for justice, accountability, and the health and dignity of all people. We are
supported by the expertise and passion of health professionals and concerned citizens alike.
Since 1986, PHR has conducted investigations in more than 40 countries around the world, including Afghanistan, Congo, Rwanda, Sudan,
the United States, the former Yugoslavia, and Zimbabwe.
1988 - First to document Iraq's use of chemical weapons against Kurds
1996 - Exhumed mass graves in the Balkans
1996 - Produced critical forensic evidence of genocide in Rwanda
1997 - Shared the Nobel Peace Prize for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines
2003 - Warned of health and human rights catastrophe prior to the invasion of Iraq
2004 - Documented and analyzed the genocide in Darfur
2005 - Detailed the story of tortured detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantánamo Bay
2010 - Showed how CIA medical personnel sought to improve waterboarding and other interrogation techniques that amount to torture
Media Contact
Megan Prock
Senior Press Officer
mprock [at] phrusa [dot] org
Tel: 617-301-4237
Cell: 617-510-3417
Source: Physicians for Human Rights
http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/press/press-releases/world-renowned-hivaids.html
"Reproduced with permission - Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)"
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)
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