The Iranian authorities’ transfer of an imprisoned US doctoral student within Tehran’s Evin prison heightens fear for his safety, Human Rights Watch said today. On December 6, 2017, Xiyue Wang, a Princeton Ph.D. student and US citizen, was moved to Evin’s Ward 7 and was threatened by another inmate there in front of a guard, a knowledgeable source said.

 

On August 8, 2016, Iranian authorities arrested Wang, 37, who was doing research on the Qajar dynasty, Iran’s ruling monarchy that ended in the early 20th century. He has since been held in Evin prison. The Mizan News Agency, which is close to Iran’s judiciary, reported on July 16, 2017, that a revolutionary court had sentenced Wang to 10 years in prison on charges of “cooperating with an enemy state.” In September, a court of appeal upheld the sentence.

 

“Iranian authorities do not limit unfair trials and mistreatment in custody to their own citizens but impose them on foreign nationals as well,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “To further threaten Xiyue Wang with physical harm is outright cruelty.”