A researcher studying disaster medicine at two European institutes has been sentenced to death in Iran, apparently for security-related offences.
Science Mag reports that Iranian-born Ahmadreza Djalali, a scientist at the Research Centre in Emergency and Disaster Medicine (CRIMEDIN) at the University of Eastern Piedmont in Novara, Italy, and the Free University Brussels (VUB), was arrested more than 9 months ago on still-unknown charges and has been imprisoned in Iran since then, most of the time in solitary confinement and without access to a lawyer.
The report says VUB announced the sentence on its website. Colleagues, convinced of Djalali's innocence, say they are trying everything they can to prevent his execution.
A petition set up by Hakan Altintas, a supporter in Turkey, asks the Iranian government to let Djalali come home; friends and colleagues are also raising awareness about his case on a Facebook page.
"Ahmadreza is passionate about science," says Ives Hubloue, the head of VUB's research group on emergency and disaster medicine in the report. "He's not interested in politics. We don't believe he would do anything at all" to undermine the Iranian government.
[link url="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/02/disaster-medicine-scientist-sentenced-death-iran"]Science Mag report[/link]