Upon release of the report, PHR issued a statement and held a press conference. In the first 24 hours, PHR received over 467 press mentions. Major press covering the story on day 1 included the New York Times, Nature, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Mother Jones, Huffington Post, Washington Independent, Scientific American and Alternet. The report was featured on the front page of the Daily Kos and Boing Boing—two of the most heavily trafficked blogs on the internet—as well as on the prestigious legal affairs blog, Balkinization, on the highly influential blog Hullabaloo, and on numerous other notable blogs, including, Firedoglake (multiple bloggers), Religion Dispatches, The American Prospect, On Faith (Washington Post) and Political Animal.

News of the report also ran on numerous major network local TV and radio news shows around the country.

On Tuesday, June 8, PHR’s report was the subject of the lead editorial of the New York Times. Day 2 coverage also included The Nation, New York Observer, LA Times, New Scientist, Inter Press Service and fulsome treatments by bloggers Andrew Sullivan (at The Atlantic) and Glenn Greenwald (at Salon.com), who are both widely read and highly influential for new media and mainstream news, alike.

On Wednesday, PHR, along with 9 other groups submitted a formal complaint to the Office of Human Research Protections (OHRP). We issued a new statement and held another press conference—and attracted a new round of press coverage, with at least 200 press outlets covering the story, including wire stories on AFP and AP and detailed reporting on The Great Beyond blog from Nature.com.

Our OHRP complaint was co-signed by Amnesty International USA, Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Center for Constitutional Rights, Center for Victims of Torture, Human Rights Watch, International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, National Religious Campaign Against Torture, Network of Concerned Anthropologists and Psychologists for Social Responsibility.

Anyone can file an OHRP complaint, so we’ve opened ours to the public in cooperation with a number of our partner organizations. If you haven’t signed on yet, please do.

Also on Wednesday, the office of Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who is chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, released a statement to blogger Jeff Kaye: “the findings of the new report from Physicians for Human Rights will be considered,” Feinstein said, in the Committee’s review of the CIA detention and interrogation program.

By the end of the week on Friday, PHR was mentioned nearly 900 times in press source and had over 9000 total downloads of Experiments in Torture. The report authors have been interviewed numerous times for print, radio and TV. We’ve posted a few of their appearances on The Torture Papers.

A number of outside academic experts have spoken supportively on the record about PHR’s evidence and the allegation of experimentation, including, Olivier Ribbelink, researcher at the Asser Institute in The Hague; Jonathan D. Moreno, a professor of medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania; Paul Root Wolpe, director of the Center for Ethics at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia; and Nancy Berlinger, a research scholar who studies clinical ethics at The Hastings Center in Garrison, New York.

Many thanks to all who have blogged, reported, tweeted, signed onto the OHRP complaint, sent our links to colleagues and otherwise responded to the pressing nature of our findings in Experiments in Torture.

Stay tuned for more developments.

(Cross-posted on The Torture Papers)

Today ten NGOs, including Enough, Humanity United, Human Rights Watch, Save Darfur Coalition, Genocide Intervention Network, Physicians for Human Rights, American Jewish World Service, Investors Against Genocide, and i-Act/Stop Genocide Now, released a major policy paper calling on the Obama administration to apply firm benchmarks to Sudan to prevent much broader conflict. In its Sudan policy review completed in mid-October 2009, the Obama administration indicated it would regularly assess the progress of peace in Sudan—or lack thereof. But the administration has not publicly disclosed precisely what benchmarks it is applying to assess progress in Sudan, even as it begins its official review process this month and as tensions increase across Sudan.

To help bring transparency to the process by which the United States ensures strict adherence to unambiguous benchmarks, and ensure that the appropriate pressures and incentives are applied accordingly, “Clear Benchmarks For Sudan” aims to provide guidance for how officials, concerned citizens, and others in the international community can assess genuine progress toward a lasting peace in Sudan.

In addition to today’s release, Sudan Now, a coalition of Sudan advocacy groups, ran a new advertisement in the Washington Post. Click here to view the ads.

Take Action

1. As constituents who don’t have access to these high level policy officials, it’s important that we use every tool at our disposal this week to increase the pressure on these individuals. Call 1-800-GENOCIDE (1-800-436-6243) today to ask your member of Congress to contact the Deputies and ask them to implement clear benchmarks for Sudan.

2. Update your status on Facebook with the following information, urging your friends to do the same.

“This week senior U.S. Government officials will meet to review Sudan policy. Become a fan of the State Department Facebook page and publicly urge Deputy Secretary Jim Steinberg and the other deputies on the National Security Council to be firm when holding Sudan’s leading parties to their commitments to promote peace.”

3. Join our petition on Twitter, urging the Deputies to be strong on Sudan benchmarks when they meet this week.

Click here to sign the petition

Foreign aid is a major source of revenue for Uganda and its citizens. One of the industries that will be most affected by a cut in aid will be healthcare associated with HIV/AIDS. The authorization of the Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Bill will thwart current efforts to battle the disease. A number of provisions in the bill directly impact the amount of help organizations and healthcare professionals can offer to patients with HIV/AIDS. Human Rights Watch claims that “the bill would criminalize the legitimate work of national and international activists and organizations working for the defense and promotion of human rights in Uganda.”  Also, under the new bill, providing safe-sex information or simply treating someone who’s gay can be seen as promoting or abetting “homosexuality and related practices” and will lead to imprisonment — a shocking violation of medical neutrality and the right to health. This will deter many medical professionals and HIV/AIDS workers from properly and efficiently providing their services to the Ugandan people.

Here is the Human Rights Watch statement and some recent news editorials surrounding the bill. Congress is holding a hearing on this next week. Check back to see how you can take action to stop this bill!

Human Rights Watch

• Uganda: ‘Anti-Homosexuality’ Bill Threatens Liberties and Human Rights Defenders 10/15/09

Washington Post

• Uganda’s bill to imprison gays for life is an outrage that should be rejected 1/7/2010
• Uganda lawmaker refuses to withdraw anti-gay bill 1/8/2010

Global Post

• Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill sparks hot debate

USA Today

• Ugandan president urges softening of anti-gay bill 1/18/2010

The letter states:

We strongly urge that this investigation be thorough, impartial and independent and we also urge you to ensure that internationally respected forensic experts be invited to assist in such investigations. We respectfully draw to your notice that experienced forensic specialists from Physicians for Human Rights, would be willing to assist in the investigation.

Dr Pourandarjani graduated with distinction from the University of Tabriz and was doing his two-year national service at the Kahrizak detention center in Tehran during the June 2009 protests.

Many protestors were held in Kahrizak where they were allegedly tortured and ill treated. At least three detainees reportedly died of their injuries, including Mohsen Ruholamini, the son of a senior conservative politician. Following his death, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered the closure of Karhizak. Although Iranian authorities have promised to investigate the ill treatment of detainees at Kahrizak, no prosecutions have yet been announced.

The Washington Post reported on November 18:

A parliamentary committee plans to issue a report soon on the Kahrizak prison, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency said. The makeshift detention center was closed in July on the orders of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, because of substandard conditions.

The prison became the focus of a rare investigation into police conduct after the death of Mohsen Rouholamini, the son of a former senior Health Ministry official. Authorities said he and two others died of meningitis, but Rouholamini’s father said his son was tortured to death.

Former presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, a Shiite cleric, publicly accused security forces in August of having tortured and raped detainees in Kahrizak, an allegation that government officials denied. In a raid on Karroubi’s office in September, security forces confiscated witness reports, names and addresses.

Dr. Pourandarjani had reportedly examined Mr. Ruholamini two days before he died. The doctor reportedly stated to Iranian MPs: “He was brought to me after being physically and severely tortured. He was in a grave physical condition and I had limited medical supplies, but I did my best to save him. It was then that I was threatened by the authorities of Kahrizak that if I disclose the cause of death and injuries of the detainees, I will cease to live.”

Defending colleagues at risk is at the core of PHR’s work. Physicians for Human Rights was founded in 1986 after Dr. Jonathan Fine and a group of US physicians visited Chile to advocate for the release of imprisoned health professionals. Since then, PHR has rigorously defended health professional colleagues and pressured governments for their release, supplementing secondary material with firsthand research and investigation.

Although both sides committed mass atrocities, recent video footage of apparent executions (warning: this video contains graphic images) of 9 Tamil POWs supports widespread allegations of war crimes by the SLA.

But the international community, most notably the UN Security Council, remains idle while it should be launching a commission of inquiry.

Now shift your attention to Burma where eerily similar events are taking place. Murder, torture, forcible displacement, enslavement and rape comprise the military’s arsenal of abuses inflicted against minority populations. Last week, in a Washington Post op-ed, Chris Beyrer, MD, and I described such recent attacks that resulted in the flight of some 30,000 Kokang (an ethnic Chinese minority group in Burma) to Yunnan Province, China.

Though it can’t be confirmed, it seems as if the Burmese junta is reading the SLA’s play book on how to pull off a swift and murderous end to its own decades-long civil war. Curiously, following the military victory over the Tamil Tigers, the President of Sri Lanka, General Mahinda Rajapaksa, made a state visit to Burma to meet with President Than Shwe. Perhaps the two military dictators met only to discuss a bilateral agreement on tourism. But I doubt it.

I also wish to recognize the incredible efforts of the various national and local groups that have been working for years to make this possible, especially AIDS Action, Physicians for Human Rights and the Harm Reduction Coalition. Without the work of these valiant groups all across the nation, the step we took today never would have been possible.

Unfortunately, the House passed an amendment appropriations bill that restricts federal funding from needle exchange programs that operate within 1,000 feet of day care centers, schools, universities, public pools, parks, playgrounds, video arcades or youth centers or an event sponsored by these organizations. This provision makes the House vote a half-victory for PHR and other AIDS activist groups because it unnecessarily limits the programs that could receive federal funding. (This Washington Post article has more information on the House vote.)

Before the Senate began its summer recess Senators were discussing the appropriations bill in committee. The full Senate is expected to vote on the bill in mid-September. As the legislation moves through the Senate, there is a possibility that the 1000 foot restriction could be removed before the bill reaches the president’s desk.

People around the US are working to tell the Senate that “Clean needles save lives!” A recent New York Times editorial began:

Nearly 600,000 Americans with AIDS have died since the beginning of the epidemic. Nearly a third of those cases can be traced to intravenous drug users who became infected with the virus that causes AIDS by sharing contaminated needles and who sometimes infect wives, lovers and unborn children. Many of the dead would never have been infected if Congress had allowed federal financing for programs that have been shown the world over to slow the spread of disease, without increasing drug use, by making clean needles available to addicts.

A Washington Post editorial echoed that sentiment. We must continue to advocate on behalf of the drug users and their families, people without a strong voice in Congress. Needle exchange funding will save lives.

In a few weeks PHR will launch a postcard campaign to let Senators know that their constituents support federal funding for needle exchange services. To kickoff the academic year, the Student Program will provide the resources and support for student chapters nationwide to hold postcard drives and other awareness-raising initiatives as the Senate vote approaches.

Please email me at skalloch [at] phrusa [dot] org if you would like to be involved in this action in your community, or contact Danielle if you are a student and want to learn more. Look for more updates on this exciting campaign throughout the next couple weeks.

Thank you for all of your support so far! This progress would be impossible without you.

In April 2002, Physicians for Human Rights forensic experts dug a test trench as part of a preliminary investigation for the UN at the Dasht-e-Leili mass grave site near Sheberghan, Afghanistan, and exposed 15 bodies. (Physicians for Human Rights)

The Dasht-e-Leili mass grave case is garnering increased media attention, after more than seven years of investigation and advocacy by Physicians for Human Rights. A large part of the credit for the media coverage goes to early and significant coverage and analysis by blogs, many of whom are named below as part of this media round-up.

The significant new information in the case is that, according to The New York Times, the Bush Administration impeded at least three federal probes into alleged war crimes and that recent analysis of satellite images by the American Association for the Advancement of Science indicates evidence-tampering at the site where bodies are suspected to be buried in a mass grave.

In response — and on the same weekend that The New York Times revealed what its reporter James Risen has since characterized on “Democracy Now!” as the Bush Administration’s cover-up — President Obama has ordered his national security team to collect all the facts about the Dasht-e-Leili case and report back to him.

This past weekend, Afghan warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum made a public statement denouncing front-page coverage by The New York Times as well as an August 2002 cover story on the case by Newsweek Magazine. Dostum in turn was refuted by spokespeople from Amnesty International and Physicians for Human Rights.

Since The New York Times published its dramatic investigation of a cover-up by the Bush Administration and a photo of the mass grave discovered in 2002 by Physicians for Human Rights on its front page, there has been a torrent of news stories.

Four New York Times Pieces in One Week

Four times in one week, The New York times highlighted the Dasht-e-Leili mass grave case, in pieces republished by the International Herald Tribune:

• A front-page piece by Pulitzer Prize-winner James Risen on July 11 (“US Said to Have Averted Inquiry into ‘01 Afghan Killings“), quoting Physicians for Human Rights throughout and featuring a page 1 photo of the mass grave credited to Physicians for Human Rights and made public for the first time;
• A July 13 front-page news analysis by Scott Shane (“Obama Faces a New Push to Look Back“);
• A July 14 editorial citing Physicians for Human Rights (“The Truth about Dasht-i-Leili“); and
• A July 18 follow-up piece by Richard Oppel (“Afghan Warlord Denies Links to ’01 Killings“).

Three Editorials in One Day

On July 14, three editorials on the Dasht-e-Leili case ran simultaneously in the pages of The New York Times, the Boston Globe (“Truth about Unsavory Allies“), and the San Francisco Chronicle (“Dirty Secrets“). Air America’s Thom Hartmann also penned an editorial (“Time to restore accountability“).

Other major print coverage includes news stories published by Harper’s Magazine (“The Ghosts of Dasht-e-Leili“), the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Miami Herald. The New Yorker also highlighted the case on July 13 (“Close Read: New Crimes for Old“).

The Eyes of the World and the Ear of the President

The interview of President Obama by CNN’s Anderson Cooper — in which Obama responded to Physicians for Human Rights’ call for action on the Afghan mass grave case by ordering his national security team to gather all the facts and report back to him — was the top story on CNN.com for Sunday evening, July 12, and was also a top story on Google News and an AOL Top News story. CNN promoted the clip of Obama’s response (“Obama orders review of alleged Afghan mass grave,” July 12) numerous times over three days before airing the full interview in two parts on the evenings of July 13 and 14.

More than 70 TV News Broadcasts

More than 70 TV news broadcasts have mentioned the Afghan mass grave case. Broadcast coverage to date includes ABC News, CNN, BBC (“The Afghan ship-container massacre” and “Obama ‘examining Afghan killings’“), Fox News Channel, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Voice of America, Sky News Australia, and Al Jazeera. Pacifica broadcast an hour-long segment of its nationally-syndicated “Democracy Now!” on July 13 with host Amy Goodman interviewing PHR Deputy Director Susannah Sirkin and James Risen of The New York Times.

On July 13, ABC White House Correspondent Jake Tapper featured the Dasht-e-Leili case in his bellwether blog (“President Obama orders national security team to review 2001 Afghanistan massacre“), and even posted Physicians for Human Rights’ video, War Crimes and the White House: The Bush Administration’s Cover-Up of the Dasht-e-Leili Massacre.

The Hub — a global platform for human rights media and action, created by Witness — also featured PHR’s video on its front page as its Editor’s Pick.

Major Wire Stories

Physicians for Human Rights spokespeople were quoted in wire stories by CNN Wire, Agence France-Presse (AFP) (“Obama orders probe of killings in Afghanistan“), Associated Press (AP), Global Post (“Hero on horseback or mass murderer?“, Inter Press Service (“DOJ urged to probe why Bush White House blocked Afghan massacre investigation“), Thai News Service, and Pajwhok Afghan News.

PHR is also named in major international wire stories in Italian, Spanish, German, and French.

Prominent Online Coverage

Blog coverage includes three posts that topped the Recommended List on Daily Kos on three successive days (“Bush Admin. covered up Afghan massacre“), plus prominent coverage on The Agonist (“Bush Admin covered up war crimes in Afghanistan“), FireDogLake (“Obama on the Afghan massacre“), The Huffington Post (“War crimes in Afghanistan, Or: What you don’t learn in science class“), Balkinization (“Bush Administration covered up war crimes by Afghani allies“), Bitch Ph.D. (“Bush Administration strangled investigations of mass murder in Afghanistan“), Circling the Lion’s Den (“Will the truth about Dostum’s massacre finally come out?“), and Hullabaloo (“Even in War“).

Other major online coverage includes New York Times-Online, Forbes-Online, The Guardian-Online, Fox News.com, MSNBC-Online, ABC News-Online, USA Today-Online, Washington Post-Online, Washington Times-Online, and France 24-Online.

In the 9 days following the July 11, 2009 front-page New York Times piece, at least 380 news stories mentioned Physicians for Human Rights’ forensic work and advocacy on the mass grave in Dasht-e-Leili, Afghanistan, according to the Vocus PR database. This does not count the hundreds of wire stories reprinted in newspapers and web sites across the globe.

What’s New in The New York Times?

Significant new information about possible war crimes and a reported cover-up by the Bush Administration — as well as a commitment by President Obama to get to the bottom of it all — has come out in the Dasht-e-Leili investigation in the past nine days. For example, in its follow-up piece dated July 18, The Times notes:

In a column on the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Web site, General Dostum wrote that the Northern Alliance had investigated and determined that there was no “intentional massacre” of prisoners of war.

“I had given very clear orders for all of our troops in the Northern United Front to treat prisoners well,” General Dostum wrote. He added: “The massacre of prisoners of war to the extent that has been claimed is against the principles of intelligence gathering and security. From a military point of view, it is unimaginable.”

The column drew sharp criticism from human rights groups who have investigated the mass deaths. Physicians for Human Rights, the Boston group that in 2002 discovered the site of the mass grave where the prisoners’ bodies were said to have been buried, accused General Dostum of trying to distract from the “substantial documentation” of the mass deaths.

The group described “clear indications of evidence tampering” at the mass grave site and said that at least four witnesses had been killed, tortured, or had disappeared. The group called for a full investigation into both the mass deaths and evidence the Bush administration squelched efforts to investigate the episode.

The Times article emphasized that accounts of the killings had been previously reported. The mass deaths occurred in November 2001, after thousands of Taliban fighters surrendered to General Dostum’s forces in Kunduz and were transported to a prison run by his forces near Shibarghan.

Survivors and witnesses later told The Times and Newsweek that prisoners were stuffed into closed metal shipping containers and suffocated, or were killed when guards shot into the containers.

The focus of The Times article was new revelations that even though officials from the F.B.I., the State Department, the Red Cross and human rights groups sought an investigation, Bush administration officials discouraged the inquiry because General Dostum worked closely with the C.I.A. and American Special Operations forces and was a member of Mr. Karzai’s American-backed government.

This is just the media round-up to date. Thank you again to all of Physicians for Human Rights’ supporters for helping us make this leading-edge work possible. To learn more and take action, visit http://afghanmassgrave.org.

(Cross-posted on AfghanMassGrave.org and Daily Kos)

Committee Chairman Senator Leahy (D-VT) introduced the hearing, stating:

We must not be afraid to look at what we have done, to hold ourselves accountable as we do other nations who make mistakes. We must understand that national security means protecting our country by advancing our laws and values, not discarding them.

Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) conceded that he wouldn’t mind looking back if there is a reason to do so, acknowledging that torture is a violation of our law. How many more reasons does Senator Specter need? Here is one: Susan Crawford, convening authority of the Guantanamo military commissions, stated in a recent Washington Post article that Mohammed al-Qahtani was tortured, citing the “medical impact” of the techniques used against him.

You think of torture, you think of some horrendous physical act done to an individual. This was not any one particular act; this was just a combination of things that had a medical impact on him, that hurt his health. It was abusive and uncalled for. And coercive. Clearly coercive. It was that medical impact that pushed me over the edge.

Consequently Crawford dropped the charges against al-Qahtani.

On a related note, in his testimony, John Farmer, who has served as a senior counsel and team leader for the 9/11 Commission, cautioned that the abusive tactics have compromised our ability to respond to 9/11. Frederick A. O. Schwarz, Jr., Senior Counsel from the Brennan Center for Justice, echoed that sentiment in his testimony, stating that it is necessary to find out whether abandoning the rule of law has made us less safe. In his testimony before the Committee in support of a commission, Retired Vice Admiral Lee Gunn emphasized the problems Bush policies have created for our servicemen and women.

PHR believes that the integrity of military medical ethics must be restored by pursuing a thorough review and implementing guidelines that uphold medical ethics. In the statement we submitted for the record in today’s hearing (PDF), we emphasized that

In addition to determining how health professionals came to be placed in harmful roles, the Commission needs to recommend that effective guidelines be put in place to ensure that such a gross subversion of medical ethics cannot be repeated. The Defense Department continues to mandate that health professionals play a major role in interrogations, through its Behavioral Science Consultant teams. This is ethically inappropriate. By helping interrogators determine when to push harder to get detainees to reveal information, health professionals abandon their role as healers and become instead advisors on calibrating harm. Psychologists and psychiatrists should be limited to training personnel in non-coercive rapport-building interrogation techniques….

The enormous prestige of the health professions in this country was earned over many decades, in part by adherence to a strict set of ethical standards. The participation of some health professionals in ethically disturbing and even criminal behavior while engaged with the national security apparatus serve to erode that high standing, especially if their actions are not investigated and corrected. The medical and health professions as a whole have a responsibility to support a national commission that will move toward a restoration of the highest moral and ethical standards, rooted in the respect for human dignity.

Senator Specter cautioned against criminalizing policy differences. That distorted rhetoric must be rejected. The authorization of torture is not a policy difference; the legal prohibition against torture is absolute and unequivocal. Exploitation of the law to conform to policy warrants an investigation. In discussing the Office of Legal Counsel memos released earlier this week authorizing interrogations that violate human rights, Senator Leahy said, “How can anyone suggest that such policies do not deserve a thorough, objective review?” The American people and the victims of abuse deserve the truth; the wrongs of the past must be uncovered, addressed and prevented from recurring.

Please help make a commission of inquiry a reality by signing the PHR petition in support of a bipartisan commission. If you’ve already signed the petition help us get 10,000 signatures by sending it to six of your friends.

Vandeveld’s declaration is an important illustration of why President Obama’s suspension of military commissions at Guantanamo Bay is so timely and essential.

Jawad, who was captured in Afghanistan as a juvenile, was subjected to sleep deprivation at Guantánamo, moved from cell to cell 112 times in a 14-day period in 2004, a victim of the so-called “frequent flier” program. Vandeveld resigned as lead prosecutor in Jawad’s case before the Guantánamo military commissions in September 2008. His declaration urges Jawad’s release, stating Jawad would pose “no threat whatsoever,” concluding “six years is long enough for a boy of sixteen to serve in virtual solitary confinement, in a distant land, for reasons he may never fully understand.”

In a Washington Post op-ed piece Lt. Col. Vandeveld stated:

[it] is impossible to prepare a fair prosecution against detainees at Guantánamo Bay. I had concluded that the system of handling evidence is a haphazard farce.

He continued:

There is a way out of Guantánamo. It is not as difficult as some apologists have made it seem. Many of the detainees have not committed war crimes and the handful of real terrorists and war criminals can be tried in federal court. The Department of Justice has a well-developed expertise in these cases and can achieve justice with transparency and rigorous due process.

In his conclusion, Vandeveld strongly urged President Obama to waste no time in

appointing a civilian with full authority, competence and expertise to review detainee files and determine who can be prosecuted and who should be released, and her or his determination should be final….

No one who has fought for our country and its values has done so to enable what happened in Guantánamo.

Further Reading

• Declaration of Darrel J. Vandeveld, January 12, 2009 (PDF)

In the wake of President Barack Obama’s inauguration, Iran has signaled that the espionage trial of two world-renowned AIDS doctors is a bellwether for the future of US-Iranian relations.

The Washington Post reported on Jan. 19 that an unnamed Iranian senior counter-intelligence official warned the new Obama administration that the case of Dr. Kamiar Alaei and Dr. Arash Alaei exemplifies a “full fledged intelligence war” between Iran and the US.

“If Kamiar and Arash are engaged in any war, it’s the battle against HIV/AIDS,” said Sarah Kalloch, Director of Outreach for Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). “They traveled the world to share the Iranian model of HIV prevention, and to learn from other countries about innovations in infectious disease treatment. Treating AIDS is not a crime—it is good medicine.”

It now appears that the convictions of the Alaeis were based on tainted and unreliable confessions.

Sources close to the trial have told PHR that one of the brothers had agreed under duress to make a videotaped statement prepared by Iranian authorities, who had promised that if he read the statement, both brothers would be set free.

Said Jonathan Hutson, J.D., Chief Communications Officer for PHR, “Given the isolation, months without charge and perfunctory trial, and the interrogation techniques and duress known to exist in other cases like this one in Iran, any purported ‘confession’ in the trial of the Alaei brothers must be viewed as tainted and unreliable.” The brothers have been held in Evin prison since late June 2008.

According to a press release issued today from the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, the mother of Arash and Kamiar Alaei recently broke her silence in an interview with Iranian news media. The press release stated that the mother told Rooz Online that her sons had been held for 63 days in solitary confinement and that she feared that they might be tortured to coerce false confessions on camera.

The recent developments in the Alaei brothers’ case have attracted a lot of press, which we have been covering in detail on IranFreeTheDocs.org.

Please show your support for Kamiar and Alaei by signing our new petition calling for their release.

You may also add your own photograph to support the campaign to free the Alaeis.

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