An Iranian student activist arrested in a clampdown after student demonstrations in 1999 has died in prison.
Amnesty International and the New York-based academic rights network Scholars at Risk (Sar) called for an immediate investigation into the death of Akbar Mohammadi, a Tehran University student who was initially sentenced to death for unclear offences. His sentence was commuted to 15 years in prison.
Sar was also concerned about the medical condition and circumstances of the detention of his brother Manuchehr, a former student leader.
Mohammadi died at Evin Prison. Since being imprisoned in 1999 after protests at the closure of a daily newspaper, he had been granted leave from prison several times for medical treatment before his rearrest in June. He was reported to have been on hunger strike before his death. Sar said he had been denied access to legal counsel at this time. Amnesty logged allegations of torture and ill-treatment during his detention.
Sar said that Manuchehr was also in Evin Prison. "He allegedly lapsed into a coma in July 2005 after conducting a hunger strike in protest at authorities' refusal to grant him medical leave," the organisation said.
He was originally sentenced to 13 years imprisonment for charges related to national security. This was reduced to seven years but was then extended by two years, allegedly because of interviews he held with foreign media. Sar called on its members to write to the Iranian authorities "reminding (them) that the free exchange of ideas across national boundaries is a core value of academic freedom".