IPSA Statement on the Imprisonment of Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali

On May 10, 2022, the International Science Council (ISC) informed its members of the imminent risk of execution of the Swedish-Iranian medical scholar Ahmadreza Djalali by 21 May and asked to urge national governments and Iranian state authorities to secure Dr Djalali’s release.

As a member of the ISC, the International Political Science Association (IPSA) expresses grave concern for Dr. Djalali. Iranian authorities recently put Dr. Djalali in solitary confinement and are preparing to carry out his death sentence on May 21.

IPSA, the voice of political science around the world, which brings together a large number of Universities and National Associations of Political Science scholars, including the University of Tehran, and which strongly supports cooperation in the fields of science and research among all its members, is also strongly committed in granting and promoting academic freedom and human rights.

Dr. Djalali’s death penalty, inhumane and degrading punishment, denotes a disregard of academic freedom and of the rights granted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a party.

For that reason, IPSA calls on Iranian authorities to suspend the capital sentence issued against Dr. Djalali, a member of the international academic community, and to secure his immediate release.