Iranian Elite Physicist Diagnosed with Kidney Cancer in Prison

Saeed Khalili, the defense lawyer of imprisoned Iranian physicist Omid Kokabi, reported that his client has been diagnosed with kidney cancer in Evin Prison. In an interview with the Iranian Labor News Agency, ILNA, published on Saturday, April 28, he stated that a "malignant tumor in the right kidney" was diagnosed after multiple hospital tests and examinations. According to Kokabi's defense lawyer, he "requires immediate surgery for nephrectomy or complete removal of the kidney along with the malignant tumor, which must be performed as soon as possible." Khalili also warned that "any delay could lead to irreparable damage." Omid Kokabi, 30, a graduate of Sharif University of Technology and a postdoctoral student in atomic physics at the University of Texas, was arrested at Imam Khomeini Airport on January 29, 2011, while attempting to leave Iran after visiting his family. He spent a long time in solitary confinement, and his family and lawyer were unable to contact him. After 15 months of temporary detention, he was sentenced to ten years in prison by a court presided over by Judge Salavati on charges of having connections with "hostile governments." After two and a half years of imprisonment, Kokabi stated in a letter that his arrest and imprisonment occurred after he rejected an offer to collaborate with the military-security apparatus of the Islamic Republic on a military research project. In January 2015, the Islamic Republic's appellate court upheld his ten-year sentence, rejecting the Supreme Court's agreement to reopen his case. Kokabi's defense lawyer mentioned that during the five years and three months he has been imprisoned, he has struggled several times with "kidney stones and internal bleeding resulting from it." Khalili has once again urged the authorities of the Islamic Republic to release his client. Previously, several prominent international figures and organizations have separately called for the release of this elite Iranian student in letters addressed to the Iranian authorities, including 18 Nobel Prize winners in physics who requested Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, to issue an order for Kokabi's release.