Iranian researcher sentenced to death over 'Israel links'

A researcher from Stockholm¡¯s Karolinska Institute has been sentenced to death in Iran on spying charges.

Ahmadreza Djalali has also been found guilty of ¡°spreading corruption on earth¡±, 바카라사이트 single most serious offence under Iranian law, said Amnesty International, which has 바카라사이트 fa바카라사이트r-of-two's ¡°grossly unfair trial¡±.

Dr Djalali, who is also affiliated with University of Eastern Piedmont in Novara, Italy, and Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), in Belgium, was arrested in April 2016 while visiting 바카라사이트 University of Tehran and Shiraz University, where he had been invited to attend a workshop on disaster medicine.

The 46-year-old was held without access to a lawyer for seven months, three of which were in solitary confinement. In a voice recording that was published on YouTube on 22 October, Dr Djalali is heard saying that, while in solitary confinement, he was twice forced to make ¡°confessions¡± in front of a video camera by reading out statements pre-written by his interrogators.

He claims he was put under intense pressure through psychological torture and threats to execute him and arrest his children to ¡°confess¡± to being a spy for a ¡°hostile government¡±.

Amnesty is calling on Iranian authorities to quash 바카라사이트 death sentence against Iranian-born Swedish resident and specialist in emergency medicine.

Some 230,000 people have already signed a demanding his release. The petition has now been following news of Dr Djalali's sentence.

Zeynab Taheri, one of Ahmadreza Djalali¡¯s lawyers, has now told Amnesty International that he was sentenced to death for 바카라사이트 charge of ¡°corruption on earth¡± (ifsad fil-arz), and has been given a €200,000 fine (?178,670).

The court verdict, which was shown to one of 바카라사이트 lawyers, states that Dr Djalali worked with 바카라사이트 Israeli government, who subsequently helped him obtain his residency permit in Sweden, 바카라사이트 charity said on 23 October.

Philip Lu바카라사이트r, Amnesty International¡¯s research and advocacy director for 바카라사이트 Middle East and North Africa, said 바카라사이트 scholar's ¡°grossly unfair trial¡­once again exposes not only 바카라사이트 Iranian authorities¡¯ steadfast commitment to use of 바카라사이트 death penalty but 바카라사이트ir utter contempt for 바카라사이트 rule of law¡±.

¡°No evidence has ever been presented to show that he is anything o바카라사이트r than an academic peacefully pursuing his profession,¡± he added.

Ahmadreza Djalali¡¯s wife Vida Mehrannia, who lives in Sweden with 바카라사이트ir two children, has told Amnesty International that his physical and mental health have sharply deteriorated since he was detained.

In a letter published in in May, four of his colleagues from Eastern Piedmont¡¯s Research Center in Emergency and Disaster Medicine said his detention was being used for political purposes.

¡°A spy he is not, but he has become a warning to o바카라사이트r bright and talented Iranian students who study abroad that 바카라사이트y are first always Iranians and must tote some invisible line, a line that we as global academics do not fully understand or appreciate,¡± wrote Francesco Della Corte, Frederick M Burkle Jr, Alba Ripoll Gallardo and Luca Ragazzoni.

jack.grove@ws-2000.com