NEW YORK — Cyrus the Great, the first Achaemenid emperor and founder of Persia, would be ashamed of the actions of the Iranian government with regard to the uncalled for detention in June of two Iranian doctors, who are experts on AIDS. The flagrant abuse of their basic human rights would have been roundly condemned by the emperor, who declared the first charter of human rights known to mankind.
Academic institutions and human rights activists worldwide have protested the detention of the two brothers, Dr. Arash Alaei and Dr. Kamiar Alaei.
More than 3,000 people and organizations worldwide are protesting their detention, including professor Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund, and Dr. Paul Farmer, an AIDS expert and cofounder of Partners in Health, which is doing valuable public health work in Haiti.