World-Renowned HIV/AIDS Doctors Arrive in US
Posted on Saturday, Oct 22, 2011 at 1:06 pm by Gurukarm Khalsa
Doctors Kamiar and Arash Alaei arrival concludes 3-year campaign spearheaded by PHR
| 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; Dr. Arash Alaei was released last month. | Media Contact Megan Prock PHR Senior Press Officer mprock [at] phrusa [dot] org Tel: 617-301-4237 Cell: 617-510-3417 |
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, has 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.
About Physicians for Human Rights
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 – Presented the first evidence showing that CIA medical personnel engaged in human
experimentation on prisoners in violation of the Nuremberg Code and other provisions
