US jailing of Iranian stem cell scientist inhumane, hostile: Family members
Tehran (KNA) - Dr. Masoud Soleimani’s family has condemned the imprisonment by the United States of the Iranian stem cell scientist as a “hostile” and “inhumane act” meant to pressure Iran’s government, calling for his immediate release.
Speaking during a press briefing at Press TV's headquarters in Tehran on Tuesday, Soleimani's wife, Dr. Mahnaz Rabeie, denounced the US for keeping the scientist behind bars for an entire year without any fair trial.
Rabeie rejected a claim that her husband had been arrested for violating US sanctions against Iran, saying the incarceration was politically motivated.
Even if he had violated the bans, keeping him in prison without trial is no way a proportionate punishment, she added.
In a statement issued earlier, Rabeie, along with other members of Soleimani's family, said the researcher has remained incarcerated in the US without any adequate evidence to convict him.
According to the statement, Soleimani, the full professor and head of the Hematology Department at Tarbiat Modares University was selected as an outstanding faculty member of the year in 2015. He also won recognition as being among the top 1% scientists and researchers on the basis of ISI (Thomson Scientific Institute) in the same year.
Soleimani arrived in the US on October, 22, 2018 with a visa issued upon an invitation by the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota to lead a research program on the treatment of stroke patients.
He was, however, arrested by the FBI, which had a secret indictment, upon arrival at the Chicago airport. His visa was canceled and he was transferred to a jail in Atlanta, Georgia.
Source: PressTV