IOPHRI – A rally was held in front of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Brussels on Thursday 3rd April to demand the unconditional and immediate release of the Iranian graduate student Hamid Babaei and to stop the Iranian authorities of exerting pressure on his wife Cobra Parsajoo.
The action was organized by Amnesty International supported by the universities ULB, UAE, ULg (where Hamid studied) and BEA.
End February, Amnesty started a petition in support of Hamid and collected more than 9000 signatures to hand to the ambassador during the action of today, but the gate remained closed. The box with the signatures was left at the gate.
Hamid Babaei was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment on 21 December 2013 on the charge of “acting against national security by communicating with hostile governments [Belgium]” by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court. The charge appears to relate to his refusal to monitor and spy on Iranian students studying in Belgium, where he had been pursuing graduate studies, as requested by the Ministry of Intelligence.
The international Organization to Preserve Human Rights in Iran also joined the action of today.
