In the past few days, national and international press have reported that the sentencing of the Alaei doctors was tied to Iranian officials’ fears of Western influence. AIDS doctors Kamiar and Arash Alaei were recently sentenced to three and six years, respectively, to be served in Tehran’s Evin prison.

The New York Times’ Nazila Fathi reported Monday that Iranian officials named the Alaeis as part of a four-person “ring” involved in “provoking ethnic unrest,” according to Iranian Fars news agency. Citing the training sessions the Alaeis held in order to promote cooperation among AIDS doctors globally, Tehran officials said:

“Americans tried to influence them during these trips and convince them that America was the only savior of our people,” Fars quoted the official as saying.

The arrests appeared to be part of a crackdown on activists and opposition figures ahead of the presidential elections in June. Mohammad Khatami, the reformist former president, said last week that he would run, posing a serious challenge to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose popularity has been falling because of his government’s poor economic performance.

Describing the Alaei doctors’ illegitimate secret trial, PHR’s Jonathan Hutson was quoted by Marc Parry in an Albany Times-Union article yesterday:

The doctors were interrogated for six months and possibly coerced, Hutson said in an e-mail. The prosecutor then “paraded them through a one-day trial on New Year’s Eve without informing them of all the charges against them, and without disclosing all the evidence,” Hutson wrote.

“If due process means anything, it means the right to know the charges, hear the evidence, and face the accuser,” he wrote. “The doctors did not receive a fair trial, either by standards of international human rights law, or even by Iran’s penal code.”

The UK’s Daily Telegraph wrote yesterday that the Alaei case is not the first time Iran has falsely accused social reformers of subversive acts. The arrest may have been prompted by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s fear of losing the upcoming election:

The convictions are part of a campaign against elements of Iranian civil society with links to Western countries that the government suspects of seeking regime change.

The Alaies were frequently involved in international conferences on Aids, where they spoke about the prevention techniques they were using with prostitutes and drug users.

Last week a senior Iranian intelligence official accused the pair of joining a plot to overthrow the government.

“They aimed at creating social crisis, street demonstrations and ethnic disputes,” the unnamed official said.

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With Mr Ahmadinejad facing a tough re-election battle this year, and falling oil prices slashing government revenues, they fear reformist elements will be rejuvenated.

Finally, Los Angeles Times reporters Ramin Mostaghim and Borzou Daragahi quoted statements from PHR’s Frank Donaghue and the US State Department in calling for the Alaei doctors’ immediate release:

“To all appearances, the arrest and now the trial of these two prominent and widely traveled AIDS doctors seem to be an effort to shut the door on medical and public health collaboration on global health crises,” Frank Donaghue, head of the organization, said in a statement to media on the Alaei case.

Thousands have contacted Iran’s mission to the United Nations over the last week, asking for the brothers’ release. Both the US and the European Union have condemned the detention.

“In the past, Iran has used similar charges to falsely accuse and detain civil society activists and Iranians working to enhance understanding between our two countries,” the State Department said in a statement last week.

“We urge the government of Iran to adhere to international norms by ending its policy of arbitrarily detaining its citizens or using charges of violating national security as a pretext for targeting any Iranian citizen.”

Over the past two weeks, more than 2,000 people around the world contacted the Iranian Mission to the United Nations demanding the Alaeis’ release. In addition, more than 3,100 health professionals from 85 countries have signed the online petition demanding their release.