WMA Issues Urgent Plea to Stop Imminent Execution of Doctor

The World Medical Association has issued another urgent plea to the Iranian authorities to stop the execution of a doctor.

This follows reports that Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali, a specialist in emergency medicine, could be executed next week. Dr. Djalali, an Iranian-born Swedish doctor, was arrested six years ago and sentenced to death on alleged espionage charges in October 2017, since when he has reportedly been tortured and held in solitary confinement.

WMA President Dr. Heidi Stensmyren said: ‘We appeal to the Iranian authorities to release Dr. Djalali immediately. He has been convicted and sentenced based on a confession extracted under torture and after an unfair trial. Since then, the treatment inflicted on him has been nothing less than barbaric, inhuman and unworthy of any state governed by law.

‘In the name of humanity and a sense of justice, we join the call of United Nations human rights experts to stop this execution and to release Dr. Djalali immediately and unconditionally.’