Human rights group calls for release of detained Iranian AIDS experts
Washington, 21 July (IranVNC)—The U.S.-based rights watchdog, Human Rights Watch, called today for two Iranian physicians and brothers, renowned for their work on HIV/AIDS, who have recently been detained to be either charged or immediately released.
By: IranVNC
Published: Monday, July 21, 2008
20:20GMT—4:20PM/EST
IRAN – HUMAN RIGHTS – JAIL
Washington, 21 July (IranVNC)—The U.S.-based rights watchdog, Human Rights Watch, called today for two Iranian physicians and brothers, renowned for their work on HIV/AIDS, who have recently been detained to be either charged or immediately released.
Arash and Kamyar Ala’i were arrested on 23 June by Iranian security officers, but the location of their detention and the charges against them have not yet been announced.
The statement posted on the group’s website said that “the detention without charges of the Ala’i brothers has a chilling effect” on efforts taken by Iran to combat the disease.
The rights watchdog noted that as a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Iran has “strict legal obligations not to carry out arbitrary arrests or detention and to afford due process rights.”
Pointing to an upcoming global AIDS conference in Mexico, where Arash Ala’i was scheduled to present on Iran’s AIDS/HIV program, Human Rights Watch said: “Iran cannot be considered to be making progress if it is blatantly violating the human rights of two of its most valuable activists in this area.”
Source: Human Rights Watch website
© IranVNC 2008. All rights reserved.