Nov 12, 12:00 PM: HIV And Human Rights In Iran

"HIV and Human Rights in Iran"; A Discussion with Dr. Kamiar Alaei and Dr. Arash Alaei, Recipients of the 2012 Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights. Dr. Kamiar Alaei and Dr. Arash Alaei, former prisoners of conscience in Iran, are compassionate physicians and internationally renowned experts in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. They were instrumental in establishing innovative and humane public health programs in Iran. The brothers have dedicated their lives to helping some… Show more of the most marginalized and stigmatized groups in Iranian society-HIV-infected drug users, sex workers, LGBT individuals and prison inmates. The World Health Organization considered their programs as models for the entire Middle East and North Africa. Because their professional work involved collaboration with American colleagues and participation in international scientific and medical conferences held in the United States, the brothers were persecuted by the Iranian government who accused them of involvement in an American plot to undermine the Iranian government; they were arrested, tortured, convicted for "cooperating with an enemy government" after an unfair trial in a Revolutionary Court, and served several years in prison. After a sustained campaign on their behalf led by Physicians for Human Rights, Amnesty International, and other partners, the brothers were released from prison. They are currently unable to carry out their important work in their native country. Undeterred, they continue to work on the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS among marginalized and persecuted populations around the world and are also working on establishing an interdisciplinary center dedicated to health and human rights at the State University of New York at Albany, where they are currently located. In June 2011, the two brothers received the prestigious Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights at a ceremony in Washington DC. They also just received the International AIDS Society's Elizabeth Taylor award. Sponsored by the University of Chicago Human Rights Program, the Global Health Initiative, International Medicine Interest Group, Big Ideas in Medicine and Amnesty International. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Sarah Patton Moberg at spmoberg@uchicago.edu. Lunch will be provided. RSVPs encouraged, but not required: spmoberg@uchicago.edu

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