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Alaei brothers sentenced to three and six years’ imprisonment Updated: Tuesday, January 20, 2009

23:58GMT—6:58PM/EST

Washington, 20 January (IranVNC)—Several days after the official announcement of their conviction following a trial held in camera, today it was reported that the brothers, Arash and Kamiar Alaei, two Iranian physicians active in prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS, were sentenced to six and three years imprisonment respectively on charges of cooperating with the US government.

Yesterday the director of the anti-espionage taskforce of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry [who was not named] had reported the conviction of the brothers on charges of attempting a “soft overthrow” of Iran’s system of government, but had not at that time announced the sentences allotted to them. He also did not comment on the identity of the two other individuals tried on similar charges.

In an interview with Radio Farda on Monday, Mas’ud Shafi’i, the Alaei brothers’ attorney, corroborated reports that sentences against his clients have been passed based on Article 508 of the Islamic Penal Code.