{"id":15136,"date":"2020-05-20T18:45:43","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T16:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/?p=15136"},"modified":"2020-05-20T18:45:49","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T16:45:49","slug":"iran-nobel-laureates-condemn-arrest-of-iran-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/activities-outside-iran\/2020\/05\/iran-nobel-laureates-condemn-arrest-of-iran-students\/15136\/","title":{"rendered":"Nobel Laureates condemn arrest of Iran students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nobel Laureates condemn arrest of Iran students<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nine Nobel laureates have written a joint letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet\u00a0regarding the arrest of two elite Iranian students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They say that this action by the mullahs paves the way for the widespread and brutal repression of students and dissidents after the coronavirus <\/a>crisis has passed because the regime fears another uprising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The May 15 letter read<\/a>: \u201cWe, the Nobel Laureates signing this letter, urge you, to use your good offices in making every effort to ensure that political prisoners, in particular [the students] Ali\u00a0Younesi\u00a0and Amir Hossein Moradi, are released immediately.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moradi and Younesi, who are both students\u00a0at\u00a0Sharif University of Technology, were arrested last month for their opposition to the Iranian regime, but the mullahs hid these arrests for 26 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This meant that their families were unsure where their relatives were for nearly a month. These are students who have won international scientific awards for their country; how would the regime act for regular students?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Younesi\u00a0, who won the gold medal at the 2018 International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics, and Moradi, who won the silver medal in the 2017 Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics, were both arrested on the charge of sympathising with the Iranian Resistance group, the\u00a0People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nobel Laureates wrote: \u201cTerrified of another uprising, the Iranian regime finds no other option than resorting to intimidation and suppression of citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue is compounded by the spread of coronavirus in the overcrowded and unhygienic prisons, where all new detainees might be at risk of catching the virus or even dying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nobel Laureates explained that the Iranian security forces extort confessions through torture and that these recent arrests \u201cprepare the ground\u201d for a widespread, brutal repression of opponents and an \u201cegregious breach of human rights\u201d in the coming months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The letter was signed by:<\/p>\n\n\n\n