Wife of Ahmadreza Jalali Writes to Rouhani's Deputy: My Children Have Been Threatened with Abuse

Vida Mehran-Nia, the wife of Ahmadreza Jalali, a imprisoned physician in Iran, in a letter addressed to Shahindokht Molaverdi, the Deputy President for Citizens' Rights, once again denied the accusations made against her husband by the Tehran prosecutor. In this letter, which was obtained by Radio Farda on Tuesday, she stated: "My husband Dr. Ahmadreza Jalali, a researcher and university professor in European countries, has been detained for 22 months and during this time has faced the most inhumane illegal and un-Islamic actions, and through a manipulated process and a show trial, he has been sentenced to death on baseless charges without evidence." Ahmadreza Jalali, a guest professor at the 'VUB' University in Brussels, Belgium, has been sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court on charges of "espionage and selling information to Israel." This sentence has faced widespread protests from organizations and human rights experts from the United Nations. Zahir Shahavi, Mr. Jalali's lawyer in Belgium, stated on Sunday that the Supreme Court has confirmed the death sentence. Mrs. Mehran-Nia writes in her letter, "From the time of his arrest until the issuance of the primary court's verdict, multiple illegal and un-Islamic actions have been carried out by interrogators, investigators, deputies, and representatives of the prosecutor, and the judges of the case, which ultimately led to the fabrication of a case and the issuance of an unjust death sentence." She adds, "Repeated threats of execution, threats of solitary confinement for an indefinite period, various forms of psychological torture, and so on have led to heart pain attacks and even suicidal thoughts." The letter states that Ahmadreza Jalali's young children have been threatened with abuse and arrest. Mrs. Mehran-Nia writes that the reason for writing this letter is to ensure that "all the people of Iran and the world are aware of these illegal and human rights violations against my husband so that there is no excuse left for the officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the presence of God Almighty and the honorable people of Iran." Vida Mehran-Nia, who resides in Sweden, recently wrote a letter to Hassan Rouhani, asking the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran to form an impartial committee to investigate the "violation of the citizens' rights" of Ahmadreza Jalali by the Ministry of Intelligence before it is too late. She pointed out that the broadcast of her husband's "confessions" on the Islamic Republic's television was done under duress, where interrogators threatened her husband in solitary confinement in Ward 209 with the abuse of their children to pressure him into producing a video with "fabricated and false content." Mr. Jalali has 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. According to some observers, the televised confession segment is a common method used by the Islamic Republic to pressure political prisoners; many organizations and human rights activists consider such confessions to be invalid. Previously, in 2012, when the Islamic Republic broadcast confessions of 12 suspects involved in the assassination of its nuclear experts, Amnesty International strongly criticized this action, emphasizing that the broadcast of televised confessions contradicts Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and violates the rights of defendants and suspects. Meanwhile, the statements made by Ahmadreza Jalali in this recorded video are similar to the statements that the Tehran prosecutor relayed from Mr. Jalali's court session presided over by Judge Abolqasem Salavati in November of this year.