Welcome to the first—and we all hope—only Global Day of Action for Drs. Kamiar and Arash Alaei. We are here in New York, on the steps of the UN, under the flags of every country, which is incredibly symbolic of today. We are not alone in this fight for freedom, and neither are the Alaeis.

Physicians for Human Rights has been working with a phenomenal coalition of organization, friends and colleagues to free Kamiar and Arash since their imprisonment last June. It’s amazing to see so many of you here—and to know how many more are joining us in spirit, and at an online virtual vigil, to which we are being live streamed right now; everyone say hello to the world!

Today, AIDS and human rights groups are contacting Iranian embassies in 20 counties. Thousands of people from 130 countries have signed petitions calling for the Alaeis’ release. The Thai Treatment Action Group has already staged a rally in Bangkok. The Minister of Health in Guyana is liaising with The Iranian Embassy in Venezuela to demand their release. The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network is involving their parliament in this case. MEDU in Italy are talking to the press in Rome. The Turkish Medical Association is alerting its members.

The World Medical Association, The EU, and The International AIDS Society have all called for the Alaeis release.

Indeed, the scientific and medical community is rallying around Kamiar and Arash: Nature Magazine and the Lancet and the British Medical Journal have all condemned their conviction as a violation of scientific freedom. Dr. Julio Frenk, Former Minister of Health of Mexico, Dean of Harvard School of Public Health and one of the world leaders who rushed to solve swine flu, has called their conviction a danger to the free exchange of knowledge need to improve global health and fight pandemic, from AIDS to the flu.

Arash and Kamiar were arrested in June 2008. The Iranian government accused the brothers of using trips to AIDS conferences in the US and around the world to “foment a velvet revolution.” We say treating AIDS in not a crime. Iran can not equate public health diplomacy, and the quest for shared solutions to the world’s shared disease burden, to treason.  It is a dangerous and maddening fallacy and a danger to the people of Iran to keep science stifled and scientists in jail.

As you all may know, the Alaeis were tried in a ½ day sham trial December 31, 2008. In January 2009, Arash and Kamiar were convicted of communicating with an enemy government and sentenced to 6 and 3 years in prison, respectively. Their first appeal was opened March 18 and denied March 19; their lawyer was told of the appeal denial April 6 and had one month to stage a final appeal under Article 18 of the constitution. This is their final appeal. They are innocent of these charges. Iran is creating political theatre that is endangering the lives of people living with AIDS across the world. This must stop, and it must stop now.

Iran just released Iranian-America Journalist Roxana Saberi as a demonstration of Iralmic Kindness. It is time Iran extend that concept of kindness to the Alaeis—and the thousands of people living with AIDS in Iran who depend on people like the Alaeis to find prevention, treatment and care innovations that save lives.

Today we’re going to hear from Hadi Ghamnei, an expert on human rights in Iran and coordinator of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, as well as Dr. Sharon Stancliff, Medical Director of the Harm Reduction Coalition and a friend and colleague of Kamiar and Arash. We’ll then open the floor to anyone else who’d like to say something—anything—about the Alaeis, about HIV/AIDS, about human rights, about freedom, about saving lives, about friendship, about dancing and foosball—anything the brothers love and care about.

Thank you for standing up for human rights, as do the Alaeis every day. Kamiar and Arash have not let their imprisonment stop them from defending the health and human rights of Iranians. We’ve heard from colleagues that the brothers are volunteering at the Evin Prison health clinic, illustrating their love of medicine, of science, of the people of Iran.

They won’t stop practicing medicine, and we will not stop until Kamiar and Arash are free.