Yesterday, an action alert went out on Facebook groups and e-lert lists: Call the Iranian mission to the UN now. Tell them to free Doctors Arash Alaei and Kamiar Alaei. Iran has held these two brothers, who are world-renowned HIV/AIDS physicians, largely incommunicado since late June. On New Year's Eve, after six months of detention and interrogation, the prosecutor trotted them before the court for a one-day, summary trial in which he announced that there were secret charges against them. But the brothers' attorney could not examine the accuracy or relevance of the undisclosed evidence against them, because the evidence is a secret, too. A verdict is expected as soon as Saturday.
What's not a secret is that the Iranian mission to the UN's phone number is +1 212-687-2020. What's right out in the open, on Nature blog, on ScienceBlogs, and the front page of the Albany Times Union, is that phones are ringing at the Iranian UN Mission, and have been since the action alert went out yesterday. Call now and say Iran, Free the Docs: +1 212-687-2020.
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