Press Release Details

Over 500 Iranian-American Scientists, Academics, and Professionals Call on President Biden for Prosecution of Ebrahim Raisi, Denial of Entry Visa

09/08/2022

STORRS, Conn., Sept. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On Thursday, September 8, 2022, the Iranian Professionals' Ad Hoc Committee on Iran Policy sent an open letter (https://bit.ly/3KR7mC6) signed by over 500 prominent Iranian American scientists, academics, and professionals to President Biden calling for the prosecution of Iran regime's president Ebrahim Raisi for crimes against humanity and genocide and asked that his entry visa be denied.

Families of the victims of the 1988 massacre and plaintiffs of the federal complaint filed in New York against Raisi for his egregious human rights violations are among the letter co-signers.

"We echo the cry of our families and our colleagues in Iran, to ask for your administration's strong and immediate actions to reflect that Raisi does not represent the people of Iran and, therefore, must be denied entry visa to the United States," the letter said, adding "He played a key role in the 1988 massacre of as many as 30,000 political prisoners in Iran, a majority of them MEK members."

Professor Kazem Kazerounian, Dean of Engineering at the University of Connecticut and a co-signers said, "Ebrahim Raisi is personally responsible for incomprehensible crimes against humanity, yet he has never been held accountable anywhere; now is the time."

The letter ask President Biden to, in his address to the UNGA, "highlight the views reflected by a large bi-partisan voice in U.S. Congress, U.N. experts, the Amnesty International, and above all the people of Iran, that Ebrahim Raisi should stand trial before international tribunals for crimes against humanity and genocide."

The letter adds that the "planned September 21, 2022 demonstration calling for the prosecution of Ebrahim Raisi" in front of the UN building "is expected to be the largest ever of such protests over the years."

Professor Firouz Daneshgari, Professor of Surgery and 3rd Chairman of Department of Urology at Case Western Reserve University, said, "with this letter, we bring to the attention of the US president that he must not allow Raisi to use the UN podium at the UN; instead, the US should take lead at the UN to prosecute Raisi for crimes against humanity and genocide."

Chief Data Scientist, Ms. Sima Yazdani, stated, "Our letter echoes the voices of Iran's people who have waged uprisings since 2017, and the women who are suppressed by the misogynist regime Raisi represents."

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SOURCE Iranian Professionals' Ad Hoc Committee on Iran Policy