Concerns Raised Over Health of Ahmadreza Jalali, Doctor Sentenced to Death

Ahmadreza Jalali's lawyer, a imprisoned doctor and researcher in Iran, expressed concern about his client's health in an interview with the Belgian TV network VRT on Tuesday. This guest professor at the VUB University in Brussels has been sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court on charges of 'espionage and selling information to Israel,' a ruling that has also been confirmed by Iran's Supreme Court. This verdict has faced widespread protests from human rights organizations and experts from the United Nations. Zahir Shahavi, Mr. Jalali's lawyer in Belgium, stated that Mr. Jalali has been under psychological pressure for two years and is in poor physical condition. The lawyer added that he is seriously ill and has lost ten kilograms. Ahmadreza Jalali, who has residency in Sweden and has collaborated with the University of Piemonte in Italy, was arrested in May 2016 when he traveled to Iran at the invitation of the University of Tehran. Vida Mehranian, Mr. Jalali's wife, who resides in Sweden, recently wrote a letter to Hassan Rouhani, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, requesting that an impartial committee be formed to investigate the 'violation of Ahmadreza Jalali's civil rights' by the Ministry of Intelligence. She mentioned that interrogators from the Ministry of Intelligence threatened her in solitary confinement in Ward 209 with the harassment of their children to pressure her into producing a film titled 'Axe on the Root' with 'fabricated and false content.' Mr. Jalali stated in an audio file, verified by his family members, that his confessions were made under pressure and that he had no access to a lawyer or investigator. The televised confession segment is a common method used by the Islamic Republic to pressure political prisoners, and many organizations and human rights activists consider such confessions to be invalid. Previously, in 2012, when the Islamic Republic broadcast confessions of 12 individuals accused of involvement in the assassination of its nuclear experts, Amnesty International strongly criticized this action, emphasizing that the broadcast of televised confessions violates Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and infringes on the rights of the accused and suspects. Additionally, the statements made by Ahmadreza Jalali in this recorded video are similar to those reported by the Tehran prosecutor in November of this year from Mr. Jalali's court session presided over by Judge Abolqasem Salavati.