October 10-14
A total of 25 winners of the Nobel Prize in physics have signed a letter to the Supreme Leader calling on him to free Omid Kokabee, a 32-year-old physicist believed imprisoned for refusing to work on Iran’s nuclear program.
Eighteen had signed when the letter was published in the September 26 issue of the scientific journal Nature. Another seven have since joined in signing and more expected in the days to come.
The 25 signers are among the physicists who have been honored with the Nobel Prize over the last 42 years.
Kokabee, a member of the Turkoman minority, was arrested January 30, 2011, as he was preparing top board a flight to return to his doctoral studies in Texas. He has now been in jail more than 3 1/2 years.
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI) said Kokabee’s health is in great danger as he is suffering from heart, kidney, stomach, and dental illnesses.
In the letter to Ali Kha-menehi, the Nobel laureates write: “Omid Kokabee is an individual who has stood by his moral principles and we urge you to exhibit compassion and allow him to return to his studies in order to fulfill his promising potential.”
Kokabee is serving a 10-year sentence. During his prosecution, the prosecutors charged him with “communicating with a hostile government,” which remained unnamed but is assumed to mean the United States. He was charged with receiving “illegitimate funds,” which is assumed to refer to his scholarship from the University of Texas at Austin.
In their letter, the Nobel laureates refer to the accusations against Kokabee as “spurious charges related to [Kokabee’s] legitimate scholarly ties with academic institutions outside of Iran.”
In an open letter sent from Evin prison in April 2013, Kokabee wrote his imprisonment is the result of his refusal to heed pressure by Iranian intelligence agents to collaborate on a military research project.
“Continuing Kokabee’s imprisonment cannot be justified on any grounds,” said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the ICHRI. “This is blatantly punitive behavior, which the authorities in Iran must be called on.”
ICHRI said has a history of kidney problems, has passed kidney stones five times while in prison and is in severe pain.
In addition, ICHRI said has been taking stomach medication provided by the prison clinic, which has not been effective. As there is a history of stomach cancer in his family, which has led to the deaths of two immediate family members, ICHRI said Kokabee requires an immediate biopsy to ensure he is not suffering from stomach cancer.
It said Kokabee also needs dental treatment as he has already lost four teeth in prison and is in danger of losing another four if not treated soon.
The international scientific community has been campaigning remarkably long and strongly for Kokabee’s release. In 2013, the American Physical Society (APS), a major organization representing some 50,000 physicists worldwide, awarded him its Sakharov prize. The recent letter by the Nobel laureates is part of a widespread campaign by the APS, Committee of Concerned Scientists and Amnesty International.
The letter is endorsed by the following 25 Nobel laureates in physics: Leon Neil Cooper (1972), Brian David Josephson (1973), Anthony Hewish (1974), Burton Richter (1976), Arno Allan Penzias (1978), Sheldon Lee Glashow (1979), James Cronin(1980), Nicholas Bloem-bergen (1981), Klaus von Klitz-ing (1985), Jack Steinberger (1988), Douglas D. Osheroff (1996), Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (1997), WIlliam D. Phillips (1997), Daniel Tsui (1998), Eric A. Cornell (2001), Wolfgang Ketterle (2001), Alexei Abriko-sov (2003), David Politzer (2004), David J. Gross (2004), John Hall (2005), John Mather (2006), Toshihide Maskawa (2008), Konstantin Novoselov (2010), Andre Geim (2010) and Peter W. Higgs (2013).
