January, 20 2009, 03:13pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Jonathan Hutson, 857-919-5130, jhutson [at] phrusa [dot] org
Iran Uses AIDS Doctors' Imprisonment as First Test of Obama Administration
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.
In the wake of President Barack Obama's inauguration, Iran has
signaled that the espionage trial of two world-renowned AIDS doctors is a
bellwether for the future of U.S.-Iranian relations.
The Washington
Post reported on Jan. 19 that an unnamed Iranian senior
counter-intelligence official warned the new Obama administration that case of
Dr. Kamiar Alaei and Dr. Arash Alaei exemplifies a "full fledged
intelligence war" between Iran and the U.S.
"If
Kamiar and Arash are engaged in any war, it's the battle against
HIV/AIDS," said Sarah Kalloch, Director of Outreach for Physicians for
Human Rights (PHR). "They traveled the world to share the Iranian model
of HIV prevention, and to learn from other countries about innovations in
infectious disease treatment. Treating AIDS is not a crime-it is good
medicine."
PHR has
learned that despite leaks from Iranian officials over the weekend to the
media, the doctors only learned on Jan. 20 that they had been convicted. Kamiar
and Arash are sentenced to terms of three and six years respectively. They will
serve their sentences in Tehran's notorious Evin Prison.
"The
doctors' trial did not meet standards of due process under international
human rights law or even under the Iranian penal code," said Jonathan
Hutson, J.D., Chief Communications Officer at PHR. "The brothers still
have not been fully informed of all charges against them. Their attorney did
not have the opportunity to examine the accuracy or relevance of certain
undisclosed evidence and thus had no opportunity to rebut the case. PHR is
concerned that the doctors may have been subjected to coercion during their
intensive, six-month interrogation."
Their
attorney plans to file an appeal: he has 20 days to do so. The brothers had
been charged with communicating with an enemy government -- charges which PHR has
labeled illegitimate and politically motivated -- as well as with secret
charges which have not yet been made public.
Over the
past two weeks, more than 2,000 people around the world contacted the Iranian
Mission to the United Nations demanding the Alaeis' release. In
addition, more than 3,100 health professionals from 85 countries have signed an
online petition demanding their release, which can be viewed at IranFreeTheDocs.org.
Leading physicians and public health specialists and numerous medical and
scientific organizations have publicly
called for the brothers' release. These include HIV/AIDS and health
experts luminaries such as Global Fund Executive Director Professor Michel
Kazatchkine; Partners in Health co-founder Dr. Paul Farmer; 2008 MacArthur
Foundation Genius Grant recipient Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH; Hossam E. Fadel, MD,
of the Islamic Medical Association of North America; 1993 Nobel Laureate in
Medicine Sir Richard Roberts PhD, FRS; and Ugandan AIDS pioneer Dr. Peter
Mugyenyi.
"PHR
and the thousands of medical and public health practitioners from across the
globe who support Kamiar and Arash are devastated, dismayed and disgusted by
these sentences," said Kalloch. "Persecuting these doctors for
their exemplary public health outreach will put a chilling effect on medical
research, science, and public health in Iran, which will ultimately harm the
Iranian people."
Dr. Kamiar
Alaei is a doctoral candidate at the SUNY Albany School of Public Health in
Albany, New York and was expected to resume his studies there this fall. In
2007, he received a Master's of Science degree in Population and
International Health from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.
Dr. Arash
Alaei is the former director of the International Education and Research
Cooperation of the Iranian National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung
Disease. Since 1998, the Drs. Alaei have been carrying out HIV/AIDS treatment
and prevention programs, particularly focused on harm reduction for injecting
drug users.
In addition
to their work in Iran, the Alaei brothers have held training courses for Afghan
and Tajik medical workers and have worked to encourage regional cooperation
among 12 Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries. Their efforts expanded the
expertise of doctors in the region, advanced the progress of medical science,
and earned Iran recognition as a model of best practice by the World Health
Organization.
PHR was founded in 1986 on the idea that health professionals, with their specialized skills, ethical duties, and credible voices, are uniquely positioned to investigate the health consequences of human rights violations and work to stop them. PHR mobilizes health professionals to advance health, dignity, and justice and promotes the right to health for all.
LATEST NEWS
Listen Live: US Supreme Court Hears Outrageous Argument That Trump Is Above the Law
"The American people deserve a Supreme Court that does not hesitate to declare that no one is above the law, including a former president," said one campaigner.
Apr 25, 2024
After months of delay, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday will hear oral arguments in a closely watched case on whether former President Donald Trump should be immune from criminal charges stemming from his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss—an argument that legal experts say is both absurd and dangerous.
Listen live to the oral arguments, which are set to begin at 10:00 am ET:
Thursday's proceedings mark the high court's final argument of its current term, and pro-democracy campaigners are calling on the justices to quickly reject the former president's sweeping immunity claim so he can face trial on federal election subversion charges before his November rematch with President Joe Biden.
As Bloomberg's Greg Stohr noted earlier this week, Thursday's oral arguments give "Special Counsel Jack Smith only a narrow window to put the former president in front of a Washington jury before voters go to the polls on November 5."
"With the trial on hold until the high court rules," Stohr added, "Smith needs a clear-cut victory, and he needs it quickly."
Sean Eldridge, founder and president of the progressive advocacy group Stand Up America, said in a statement Thursday that "the Supreme Court's right-wing majority has already handed Trump a temporary victory by stalling this case for months, allowing him to delay accountability for his criminal attempts to cling to power."
"With so much at stake for our democracy, the Supreme Court should rule swiftly and decisively in this case," said Eldridge. "Accountability delayed could mean accountability denied."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Grand Jury Indicts Top Trump Aides, 11 Arizona Republicans Over 'Fake Electors' Scheme
Had it succeeded, said the state's attorney general, the scheme would have "deprived Arizona's voters of their right to have their votes counted for their chosen president."
Apr 25, 2024
A grand jury in Arizona on Wednesday charged seven aides to Donald Trump and nearly a dozen Republican officials over a "fake electors" scheme in the state that aimed to keep the former president in power after his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden.
Trump, who is currently facing nearly 90 charges across four criminal cases as he runs for another White House term, was described as "unindicted co-conspirator 1" in the 58-page indictment, which was announced by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.
"The people of Arizona elected President Biden," Mayes, a Democrat, said Wednesday. "Unwilling to accept this fact, the defendants charged by the state grand jury allegedly schemed to prevent the lawful transfer of the presidency. Whatever their reasoning was, the plot to violate the law must be answered for."
The indictment names former Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward, sitting state Republican Sens. Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern, former U.S. Senate candidate Jim Lamon, and seven others as the "fake electors" who sought to declare Trump the rightful winner of the state's presidential contest.
The names of other individuals indicted by the state grand jury are redacted, but the document's descriptions make clear that former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, and top Trump legal strategist Boris Epshteyn are among those facing felony charges—including fraud, forgery, and conspiracy.
"In Arizona, defendants, unindicted coconspirators, and others pressured the three groups of election officials responsible for certifying election results to encourage them to change the election results," the document reads. "Discussions about using the Republican electors to change the outcome of the election began as early as November 4, 2020. Those plans evolved during November based on memos drafted by [an attorney for the Trump campaign, Kenneth Chesebro]."
Mayes said Wednesday that had the fake elector scheme succeeded, it would have "deprived Arizona's voters of their right to have their votes counted for their chosen president."
"It effectively would have made their right to vote meaningless," said Mayes.
A state grand jury, made up of everyday, regular Arizonans, has handed down felony indictments in the ongoing investigation into the fake elector scheme in Arizona. pic.twitter.com/Nu8GcD4ZqJ
— AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes (@AZAGMayes) April 24, 2024
Alex Gulotta, state director of All Voting Is Local Action Arizona, said Wednesday that "the indictment of the eleven fake electors is one of the first steps required in holding these election deniers accountable for their alleged attempts to take power away from voters by disrupting our free and fair elections."
"Arizonans deserve to trust the election officials responsible for administering our elections and preserving our democracy," said Gulotta, "and this is a positive step forward as we continue to strengthen the foundations of our democracy and restore faith in our elections."
The Arizona Republicreported Wednesday that "several of the Arizona electors have previously claimed they were merely offering Congress a backup plan, though nothing in the documents they sent to Congress and the National Archives backs up that assertion."
"The indictment includes several statements the false electors made on social media that contradict those claims," the newspaper observed.
Jenny Guzman, director of Common Cause's Arizona program, said the indictment "marks the start of a new chapter for the fake elector scheme that has plagued Arizona."
"Arizonans are still dealing with the fallout from the false electors and the Big Lie about the 2020 elections," said Guzman. "We are relieved that the investigation by Attorney General Mayes has concluded and Arizonans can now know that what comes next is accountability. These efforts by these fake electors to undermine the will of Arizona’s voters have had implications far beyond their failed attempt to overthrow the 2020 election."
"This indictment can reassure all Arizonans that if anyone, regardless of their political affiliation, attempts to undermine their vote, consequences will follow," Guzman added.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Watchdog Urges FEC to Investigate Trump Campaign Over Scheme for Legal Fees
"By not disclosing the vendors that actually provided legal services, the Trump-affiliated committees effectively blocked the public from knowing which attorneys and firms are being paid—and how much."
Apr 24, 2024
A campaign finance watchdog on Wednesday filed a Federal Election Commission complaint accusing former President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign, affiliated political groups, and an accounting firm of violating U.S. law in a scheme "seemingly designed to obscure the true recipients of a noteworthy portion of Trump's legal bills."
The Washington, D.C.-based Campaign Legal Center (CLC) said that "evidence appears to show an illegal arrangement between several Trump-affiliated committees and a compliance firm named Red Curve Solutions that is designed to obscure the identities of those providing legal services and how much they are being paid."
"Voters have a right to know how the presidential campaigns and other committees supporting presidential candidates spend their money."
CLC alleges that the Trump campaign, Trump's political action committee (PAC) Save America, and three affiliated organizations "violated federal reporting requirements based on a scheme in which the committees reportedly paid over $7.2 million—described as 'reimbursement for legal' costs or expenses"—to Red Curve.
The watchdog also said that Red Curve appears to be "making or facilitating illegal contributions that violate either federal contribution limits or the prohibition on corporate contributions."
According to CLC:
Red Curve is a domestic limited liability company that offers compliance and FEC reporting services but does not appear to offer any legal services. It is managed by Bradley Crate, who also serves as the treasurer for each of the five Trump-affiliated committees concerned in this complaint, as well as over 200 other federal committees.
According to filings with the FEC, Red Curve appears to have been fronting legal costs for Trump since at least December 2022, with Trump-affiliated committees repaying the company later. This arrangement appears to violate FEC rules that require campaigns to disclose not only the entity being reimbursed (here, Red Curve) but also the underlying vendor. By not disclosing the vendors that actually provided legal services, the Trump-affiliated committees effectively blocked the public from knowing which attorneys and firms are being paid—and how much they are being paid—through this arrangement.
"Voters have a right to know how the presidential campaigns and other committees supporting presidential candidates spend their money," CLC senior director of campaign finance Erin Chlopak said in a statement. "When campaigns and committees obscure that information from the public, not only do they make it difficult to determine if the law has been violated, but they deny voters the ability to make an informed choice when casting a ballot."
"The steps taken by the Trump campaign, its affiliated committees, and Red Curve Solutions concealed information about how campaign funds were used to pay former President Trump's legal expenditures, including the amounts and ultimate recipients of these expenditures—and the FEC must investigate immediately," Chlopak added.
Trump—who is the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee—faces 91 federal and state felony charges related to his role in the January 6 insurrection and his organization's business practices. He is currently on trial in New York for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 election cycle. The twice-impeached former president has been open about his use of campaign donations to pay his legal costs.
The new CLC filing comes a day after the watchdog filed separate FEC complaints urging investigations into a pair of Trump-affiliated "scam PACs," which "pretend to fundraise for major candidates or issues while secretly diverting almost all of their donors' money back into fundraising or the fraudsters' own pockets."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular