The EUTOPIA alliance and its six-member universities: CY Cergy Paris Université, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, University of Gothenburg, Univerza v Ljubljani, the University of Warwick and Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), call on the Iranian government to act urgently to release Swedish citizen, VUB guest lecturer Dr Ahmadreza Djalali from his imprisonment and death sentence.

The EUTOPIA Alliance welcomes the Iranian government’s recent release from prison of the University of Melbourne academic Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert and asks that the same clemency be applied to Dr Ahmadreza Djalali.

Dr Djalali is attached to VUB and the Università Degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale in Italy as a guest lecturer, and an alumnus of the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.  We ask the Iranian government to review his case urgently, and to act with mercy and a respect for academic freedom by releasing him from his charges and the risk of imminent execution.

Our Alliance asks the Belgian, French, Spanish, Slovenian, Swedish, UK and European authorities to support actively our appeal to the Iranian government and to press for the immediate release of Dr Djalali through all diplomatic and political channels. We thank all of the political leaders and diplomats, and many colleagues and volunteers, who are already actively pressing for Dr Djalali’s release.

Eva Wiberg, Vice-Chancellor, University of Gothenburg, Chair EUTOPIA alliance

François Germinet, President, CY Cergy Paris Université

Caroline Pauwels, Rector, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Igor Papič, Rector, Univerza v Ljubljani

Jaume Casals, Rector, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Stuart Croft, Vice-Chancellor and President, University of Warwick