PaintYourTarget
21-01-2009, 09:25 PM
Two prominent Iranian Aids doctors have been jailed for a total of nine years for their part in an alleged coup plot.
Brothers Arash Alaei and Kamyar Alaei were accused of being "key elements" in a plan Iran said was backed by the CIA.
The prison sentences were imposed after a secret trial. Lawyers for the men, known for their pioneering research into HIV and Aids treatment and prevention, said they had strenuously denied all the charges.
The two doctors had travelled widely outside Iran, including to the US, to take part in conferences on HIV/Aids.
The BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran says this may have meant they fell foul of a law banning Iranians from having relations with so-called "hostile states".
"We don't know why they were targeted," said Sarah Kolloch of US-based Physicians for Human Rights (PHR).
"Most of their presentations were about innovative work in Iran on HIV prevention. If anything, Iran should have been excited that something positive like this was coming from Iran."
But no evidence has been produced to show that Arash and Kamyar Alaei were engaged in anything other than international collaboration to fight the spread of HIV and Aids, says our correspondent.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7843207.stm
Basically, they were detained and tried secretly, with what appears to be little evidence, of plotting a Coup in Iran, mostly due to their involvement with other countries helping to fight AIDS. Nice going Iran.
Brothers Arash Alaei and Kamyar Alaei were accused of being "key elements" in a plan Iran said was backed by the CIA.
The prison sentences were imposed after a secret trial. Lawyers for the men, known for their pioneering research into HIV and Aids treatment and prevention, said they had strenuously denied all the charges.
The two doctors had travelled widely outside Iran, including to the US, to take part in conferences on HIV/Aids.
The BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran says this may have meant they fell foul of a law banning Iranians from having relations with so-called "hostile states".
"We don't know why they were targeted," said Sarah Kolloch of US-based Physicians for Human Rights (PHR).
"Most of their presentations were about innovative work in Iran on HIV prevention. If anything, Iran should have been excited that something positive like this was coming from Iran."
But no evidence has been produced to show that Arash and Kamyar Alaei were engaged in anything other than international collaboration to fight the spread of HIV and Aids, says our correspondent.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7843207.stm
Basically, they were detained and tried secretly, with what appears to be little evidence, of plotting a Coup in Iran, mostly due to their involvement with other countries helping to fight AIDS. Nice going Iran.