U.N. Working Group Calls On Iran To Release Princeton Student

PRINCETON, NJ — After United States officials began calling on Iran to release a Princeton University scholar they say has been wrongfully imprisoned, the international community is weighing in on the matter.

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has concluded that the government of Iran had “no legal basis for the arrest and detention” of imprisoned Princeton University graduate student Xiyue Wang, university officials said on Monday. The committee says he should be released immediately.

“Xiyue Wang has been unjustly imprisoned and separated from his wife and young child for more than two years,” Princeton University Vice President and Secretary Robert K. Durkee said. “The Working Group makes it clear that Wang was in Iran solely to do scholarly work, and that the charges against him were entirely without merit. We hope these findings by the Working Group and its call for his immediate release will, in fact, expedite his release, so he can return to his family and come back to campus to complete his Ph.D.”

The Working Group supports the university’s assertion that Wang was in Iran doing peaceful research when he was captured and imprisoned for espionage. He is accused of scanning 4,500 documents and attempting to access confidential information in Tehran. He has been arrested, tried and convicted on charges of espionage. He was sentenced in July of last year to 10 years in prison. A month later, Iran denied Wang's appeal of the sentence.

The Working Group finds that Iran’s espionage laws are vague and overly broad, and that Wang shouldn’t have been put on trial in the first place. Further, it finds that the Revolutionary Courts that tried Wang and heard his appeal “do not meet the standards of an impartial and independent tribunal;” and that Wang’s case is part of a practice of Iran targeting foreign nationals for detention.

“I am encouraged to see the injustices committed against my husband, Xiyue Wang, and my family recognized in the strong opinion issued by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention,” Wang’s wife, Hua Qu said in a statement released on Monday. “This decision and similar statements by the US government underline the fact that Iranian authorities have no legal basis for detaining Xiyue and should immediately release him on humanitarian grounds. Innocent people should not be instrumentalized for political purposes.”

The Working Group petitioned Iran for information. In its response, the group claims Iran didn’t explain how Wang was cooperating with a foreign state against Iran, or how Wang’s research could amount to an attempt to overthrow the government of Iran. Wang was researching a period of governance in Iran that happened over 100 years ago when he was captured.

The Working Group also said that Iran “did not explain how Mr. Wang’s trial on espionage charges posed a national security threat so serious that it warranted a closed hearing.” The group found no evidence that Wang was in Iran for any reason other than research, and that he had visited Iran previously without incident. He had even informed Iran of his visit and the reason for it.

“Mr. Wang’s sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment appears to be disproportionately heavy, as there is no evidence that he was intending to, or did in fact, conduct espionage or cause ethnic crisis in Iran,” the group said in its report.

His wife, Hua Qu, has maintained her husband’s innocence. She said he has been moved to a prison with extremely harsh conditions, and has considered taking his own life.

The Working Group has also expressed concerns about the conditions in which he is being held. It recommends that he be “urgently transferred to a hospital” and that he be accorded a right of “compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.”

“Now my husband’s physical and mental health are rapidly deteriorating,” Qu said. “He has lost weight, developed arthritis in his knees, suffered rashes and pains all over his body, and fallen victim to depression. I urge the US government and other stakeholders to work together toward his swift release. Legal opinions and statements alone cannot bring him home. Words must be followed by concrete actions.”

The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention was established in 1991 by the former Commission on Human Rights to investigate cases of deprivation of liberty imposed arbitrarily or otherwise inconsistently with international standards and rights. It receives petitions from or on behalf of prisoners around the world and issues opinions as to whether they have been imprisoned in violation of national or international law.

For more information about the group, visit ohchr.org.

Earlier this year, Qua asked President Donald Trump to work to free her husband from the Iranian prison. She also worked with New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith (R-4), who raised the issue of Wang's imprisonment during a House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting.

“She appealed to you and to the President,” Smith told Pompeo during the hearing. “'My husband,' she said, 'is an innocent man, Mr. President. He is in prison solely because he is an American.'”

“She is correct in her announcement,” Pompeo responded. “Her husband is completely innocent, and held for a singular reason.”

Qu hopes the U.S. government and the international community can work together during the upcoming United Nations General Assembly to bring her husband home.

“Our son is now five years old and starting kindergarten. Over the two years of his father’s absence, he has developed a remarkable resilience,” Qu said. “But the problems of the adult world trouble him every single day. The devastating reality of our son’s young life is encapsulated in the question: Why can’t Daddy come home after 855 days?”

The attached image of Xiyue Wang and his family was provided by the family and released via Princeton University