Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the International Federation of Human Rights, Reporters Without Borders, and Iranian Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi also are calling on Tehran to release the scholars immediately.
Those groups also are urging Tehran to lift travel bans on two journalists with dual-citizenship -- Parnaz Azima, a U.S.-Iranian correspondent for U.S.-government funded Radio Farda, and Mehrnoush Solouki, a French-Iranian journalism student.
Ebadi, whose work for democracy and women and children's rights made her the first-ever Iranian recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, accused Iran's judiciary of "denying dual-nationals their basic rights" and disregarding "Iran's laws as well as international norms."
Ebadi and her Defenders of Human Rights Center are working on behalf of two of the defendants.
The groups also are seeking information about Ali Shakeri, an Iranian-American peace activist who went missing during a visit to Iran. The groups say Shakeri is thought to have been jailed by Iranian authorities.
All of the groups accuse Tehran of trying to spread fear among journalists, writers, scholars, and activists.
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