Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
United Press International - September 9, 2008
Harvard alumnus Kamiar Alaei and his brother Arash were arrested by Iran in June and the move is being seen as a setback in quiet U.S. diplomatic efforts to encourage people-to-people cultural and scientific exchanges between the two countries, The Boston Globe reported Tuesday.
The newspaper said the Alaei brothers, who visited New England hospitals, helped established cutting-edge AIDS clinics in Iran and had participated in the first-ever U.S.-funded people-to-people exchange with post-revolutionary Iran in 2006.
But their arrests, apparently because of their ties to U.S. organizations, were called disturbing, the newspaper said. Goli Ameri, assistant U.S. secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs, said the Alaeis' arrests hurt "because the whole idea behind the exchanges is creating a bridge between the American people and the Iranian people."
An unnamed Iranian official told the Globe he had no details on why the Alaei brothers were arrested, although he said the government viewed AIDS work as "shameful."
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