VUB supports jailed Iranian professor ahead of court hearing

Djalali (pictured) has spent 15 months in prison after being arrested during a visit to family in Iran. The accusation of espionage is based on Djalali’s contacts with western academics as an expert in disaster-related medical assistance.

The professor has reportedly never been allowed to speak to a lawyer. He has undertaken several hunger strikes and is thought to have been tortured into signing a confession.

VUB made several efforts last year to denounce the situation and has joined its name to a letter to the Iranian Ayatollah and several other authorities, including the Iranian ambassador to Belgium. The academics involved in the campaign to release Djalali have also urged Iranian public figures to use their influence.

“I believe that you can have a positive impact on the fate of professor Djalali,” read the letter, signed by prominent international academics. “We therefore respectfully urge you to ask the authorities to withdraw the accusations against him, pending the court hearing on 2 August.”

VUB rector Caroline Pauwels said that she is “very worried about what Djalali and his family have suffered” but also about “the effect that this kind of situation can have on opportunities for Iranian academics and students to study, lecture and collaborate in peace”.

Photo courtesy Facebook