In Brief In August 2008 Mostafa Alavi was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by an Iranian court for “plotting against the regime.” He had reportedly been held in Gohardasht Prison since March 2007 and initially stood trial in January 2008. Case History Before his arrest, Alavi ran a nongovernmental organization called the Iranian Elite Association, which sought to boost interaction between educated Iranians and global academic centers. He suffers from diabetes and heart prob