THE imprisonment of two prominent Iranian doctors on charges of plotting to overthrow their government could impede relations between medics in the west and Iran, and threatens global public health.
The brothers Kamiar and Arash Alaei pioneered HIV treatment and prevention in Iran, and helped heroin addicts, working with prostitutes and prisoners and distributing methadone, free syringes and condoms. They won the approval of the World Health Organization and even Iran’s hard-line religious authorities.
They were imprisoned in June and have now been charged. Joe Amon of in New York suspects the brothers were singled out because of their . Kamiar has a degree from Harvard University and both brothers spoke at US scientific meetings.
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If the charges discourage Iranian and western scientists from working together, this could pose difficulties outside Iran, as it has public health problems that require close monitoring, including HIV, , and the Ug99 wheat fungus, which threatens global food production.
