Iran Frees Omid Kokabee

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Iran has released Omid Kokabee on parole after five and a half years in prison.

Speaking about his release, his family said, ” "We are all happy, especially after he has suffered so much. Omid is doing well and his doctor is happy about the progress in his treatments.” 

Nature, an international journal of science, reported on August 29 that authorities had released Kokabee, who had been serving a 10-year sentence on charges of “communicating with a hostile government” and “illegal earnings.” Kokabee insisted that he was being punished for refusing to work on Iran’s nuclear program. 

The physicist was arrested on January 30, 2011 after visiting family. He had been working and studying in Spain and the United States, most recently at the University of Texas at Austin.

Kokabee suffered from poor health while in prison, and was repeatedly denied medical treatment. He underwent surgery in April to have his right kidney removed after he was diagnosed with kidney cancer. He had been complaining of kidney trouble since 2013.

While in prison, Kokabee had been also denied access to reading materials, and his family was regularly told they could not visit him. His family and supporters set up the Free Omid Facebook page to campaign for his release, and the Committee of Concerned Scientists and Amnesty International launched a letter-writing campaign to raise awareness of his case. 

The American Physical Society awarded Kokabee the Andrei Sakharov Prize in In September 2013. In October 2014, 33 physics Nobel laureates appealed to Iran’s supreme leader, calling for his release. The Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and Javad Larijani, director of Tehran’s Institute for Fundamental Research, both intervened in his case.