Ohio State University College of Public Health Dean Stanley Lemeshow became the latest in an ever-broadening coalition of public health leaders speaking out for Drs. Kamiar and Arash Alaei, according to a statement released by the College this week.

Dean Lemeshow expressed concern over the situation of the doctors, who remain imprisoned in Tehran without charge. Lemeshow joins Philip Nasca, PhD, dean of the University at Albany School of Public Health (SUNY Albany), in denouncing the detention of Dr. Kamiar Alaei, a School of Public Health doctoral student.

“I am concerned not only for the safety of Kamiar Alaei,” Lemeshow said, “but for the welfare of those who he’s helped through his work in the field of public health.”

Kamiar and Arash Alaei are two respected Iranian AIDS doctors who were arrested in Tehran four months ago and jailed without charge. The brothers established some of the country’s first clinics treating AIDS patients and injecting drug users. Their work has been highlighted in a BBC documentary and commended by international organizations, including the WHO.

Physicians for Human Rights has spearheaded a coalition of activists, medics, academics and Nobel Laureates in calling for the Alaei doctors’ immediate release.