BEIRUT — Two well-known physicians accused of taking part in a plot to overthrow Iran’s Islamic Republic were handed stiff prison sentences Wednesday, their attorney said.
Arash Alaei was sentenced to six years in jail, while his younger brother, Kamyar, received a three-year sentence, attorney Masoud Shafii told the Los Angeles Times, adding that he would appeal the verdict within the 20-day limit.
Human-rights activists Wednesday also named a third defendant in the case: Sylvia Hartounian, a 33-year-old reproductive-medicine specialist who has been arrested and charged in the same alleged conspiracy.
Iranian authorities allege the Alaei brothers, both pioneers in the field of HIV/AIDS treatment in Iran, Hartounian and a fourth unnamed suspect were part of what officials say was a $32 million U.S.-funded “intelligence war” aimed at stirring civil unrest and revolution in Iran. The suspects’ attorney, relatives and supporters say the charge is blatantly false.
Iranian authorities have not yet announced the verdict against the brothers, though an unnamed official leaked word on the case’s outcome this week.
The brothers and Hartounian, an Iranian-Armenian, were arrested in Tehran in July.
