Amnesty International and the wife of Ahmadreza Djalali will hold a protest on Thursday evening outside the Iranian embassy in Brussels, demanding his immediate release and proof that he is still alive.
The protest is scheduled from 18:00 to 20:00 on Franklin Roosevelt Avenue in Ixelles, the Brussels district where the embassy is located.
Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian professor and expert in emergency medicine, was a visiting lecturer at the Free University of Brussels (VUB).
He was arrested in April 2016 during a work trip to Iran. In 2017, he was sentenced to death on charges of espionage and involvement in the deaths of two Iranian nuclear scientists. He has been imprisoned in Iran ever since.
Following recent Israeli airstrikes on Evin prison, Djalali was transferred to an undisclosed location by Iranian authorities. Amnesty International has since raised alarms, stating that there has been "no sign of life" from him.
"The Iranian authorities are subjecting Djalali to enforced disappearance – a blatant violation of human rights," the organisation said.
The NGO has expressed deep concern over his situation. "The conditions of his detention may have worsened, and the risk of execution remains high. Every day is critical," Amnesty warned.
His wife, Vida Mehrannia, along with Amnesty International, is calling on the Iranian regime to confirm that he is still alive and to release him immediately. "He belongs with his family in Sweden, not in a prison cell," they stated.
