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Doctor Arash Alaei and Doctor Kamiar Alaei, two well-known Iranian physicians, brothers and HIV/AIDS leaders, were detained in June 2008 by Iranian authorities. After six months of detention without charges or trial, the brothers were tried as conspirators working with an “enemy government” to overthrow the government of Iran, and on unspecified other charges which neither they nor their lawyer were allowed to know, see the evidence of, or address. They were convicted of being in “communications with an enemy government” and “seeking to overthrow the Iranian government under article 508 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code”; Kamiar was sentenced to three years and Arash was sentenced to six.

The Alaeis’ crime: traveling the world and liaising with colleagues globally to find solutions to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Their travel to international AIDS conferences was used as a basis for this charge — a dangerous conflation of public health diplomacy with treason that harms Iran’s ability to be a worldwide medical leader and protect its people from disease and death.

PHR worked tirelessly, and ultimately successfully, with colleagues of the Alaeis, other human rights organizations, and other interested parties since their detention in 2008, to tell the Government of Iran to immediately release them and allow them to again take up their life-saving work.

Iran denies medical care to quell dissent (May 9, 2012)

Christy Fujio, Asylum Program Director at PHR, expresses concern in a recent Lancet article at reports emerging from Iran indicating the government is denying medical care to political prisoners. “The Iranian Government wants to break peoples' spirits, they want to set an example”, she said. “They do this overtly through torture, but they also do it more subtly by denying care and allowing people to suffer from their injuries.”

Doctors Alaei Send Message to Their Supporters (November 17, 2011)

Doctors Kamiar and Arash Alaei tell their supporters: "We are free and safe thanks to your efforts."

UAlbany AIDS doctor's brother home in U.S. (October 26, 2011)

After three years in prison in Tehran and two months waiting for the Iranian government to allow him to leave, AIDS expert Dr. Arash Alaei has arrived in the United States.

World-Renowned HIV/AIDS Doctors Arrive in US (October 22, 2011)

Physicians for Human Rights (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 and Dr. Arash Alaei was released last month.

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Join PHR as Released Iranian AIDS Doctors Share their Story (November 2, 2011)

Doctors Kamiar and Arash Alaei will speak together on November 9 at the National Press Club in Washington DC to talk about their imprisonment, their AIDS work, and their joy at being reunited. Join us! To RSVP: email events@phrusa.org

Iran’s Barbaric Execution of Three Gay Men Signals Dangerous Direction (September 12, 2011)

Two weeks ago, Iran executed three men because they were gay. Iranian authorities rarely admit executing prisoners on the basis of sexuality – typically they are killed on trumped-up charges like kidnapping or burglary – but here the men were explicitly charged with the crime of intercourse between men.

Dr. Arash is Freed! (August 29, 2011)

We are so happy to report that Dr. Arash Alaei has been released from Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran.

"Iranian AIDS doctors continued work behind bars" (July 25, 2011)

Nature.com today posts an interview by Priya Shetty with Dr. Kamiar Alaei, given during the recent International AIDS Society meetings in Rome.

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Letter to Iranian Authorities Concerning the Suspicious Death of Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani (November 2009)

Amnesty International, Physicians for Human Rights, and the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran called on the Iranian authorities to allow for an independent investigation into the suspicious death of Dr. Ramin Pourandarjani, who may have been witness to the possible ill treatment, torture, and deaths of prisoners at Kahrizak detention center...

Medical Leaders Call for Justice for Iranian Doctors (July 2008)

In partership/conjunction with PHR and the HIV Medical Association, sixteen top US medical experts have written a letter to the Minister of Health in Iran urging the government to respect the basic human rights of Doctor Arash Alaei and his brother, Doctor Kamair Alaei, who were taken into custody by Iranian authorities in late June and are being held incommunicado.

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