VUB calls on academics worldwide to fight Iran’s jailing of professor

The Free University of Brussels (VUB) has published an open letter calling on international academics and human rights organisations to demand that the Iranian government intervene in the case of Dr Ahmadreza Djalali. The professor, a guest lecturer at the university, is being held in a prison in Tehran.

Djalali, a Swedish national, was arrested in April 2016 during a visit to family in Iran. He was accused of espionage based on his contacts with western academics. Such a charge carries a possible death sentence, although the Iranian government has said that a sentence has not yet been handed down.

A physical and expert in disaster-related medical assistance, Djalali was previously on a hunger strike, but ended it last month upon hearing about the international efforts to get him released. Having been deprived of contact with a lawyer, he has now resumed the strike, and experts are worried about his health.

The open letter from VUB rector Caroline Pauwels calls for people and organisations the world over to express their opposition to Djalali’s imprisonment. “We would like to impress on colleagues, as well as medical, scientific and humanitarian organisations worldwide to support this call and to spread it,” the letter reads, “so that the case of Dr Djalali can be judged in a correct manner, and that he, once found innocent, can be released to join his wife and children in Sweden.”

Nearly 223,000 people have signed an online petition for Dr Djalali’s release.