Following are the contents of letters the
Committee on Academic Freedom (CAF) has sent to heads
of state or government
officials in the past months. CAF letters are also printed
in the MESA Newsletter. Click on date to access the letter.
The Committee for Academic Freedom encourages
all MESA members and others to help keep it informed of human
rights violations
affecting academics in the Middle East and North Africa.
If you learn of human rights violations, please contact a
member
of the CAF or
the MESA Secretariat,
supplying as much information as possible.
| Date Letter Sent |
Country/Area/Region Receiving Letter |
Regarding |
| November 11, 2009 |
Israel |
Letter to government officials expressing concern regarding the arrest and subsequent deportation to Gaza of Ms. Berlanty Azzam, a 21-year-old student of business translation who was weeks away from completing her degree at Bethlehem University. (pdf) |
| October 26, 2009 |
Sudan |
Letter to University of Khartoum President Mustafa Idris protesting the procedures followed in the expulsion of two students, Mr. Shams al-Din Muhammad al-Hassan Abbas Shatir and Ms. Rasha Abd al-Hamid Hasan Ali. (pdf) |
| October 26, 2009 |
Iran |
Letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei expressing shock and dismay at the arrest, conviction, and harsh sentencing of Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh. (pdf) |
| October 7, 2009 |
Iran |
Letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei expressing very grave concern and mounting consternation over the continued intimidation, arrests, expulsions, and unwarranted violent crackdown carried out by the Iranian authorities against peaceful student activists on Iranian university campuses, as well as the latest spate of harassment and dismissal of university faculty on grounds of political and ideological dissent. (pdf)
|
| October 7, 2009 |
Israel |
Letter to Israeli officials regarding the denial of Rima Najjar Merriman, a citizen of the US and Assistant Professor of American Literature at the Arab American University in Jenin (AAUJ), entry into the West Bank at Allenby on September 14, 2009. (pdf) |
| September 21, 2009 |
Bahrain |
Letter to University of Bahrain President Ebrahim Ahmed Aljanahi
expressing concern at the disciplinary action taken against university student Ms. Noor Abbas. Earlier this year, Ms. Abbas circulated a statement on behalf of the Student Union List criticizing some policies and facilities at the University. (pdf) |
| September 14, 2009 |
US |
CAF-endorsed open letter to Yale University President Richard Levin and members of the Yale Corporation written by the National Coalition Against Cencorship protesting the decision to remove all images of Jyette Klausen's forthcoming book The Cartoons that Shook the World published by Yale University Press. (pdf) |
| September 4, 2009 |
Netherlands |
Letter to Rector Henk Schmidt
protesting the Erasmus University Rotterdam’s August 19 decision to terminate Dr. Tariq Ramadan’s guest professorship in Citizenship and Identity at the EUR due to his hosting a program on the Iranian English-language television channel Press TV. (pdf) |
| August 27, 2009 |
Israel |
Letter to Ben-Gurion University of the Negev President Rivka Carmi expressing concern over her comments approving BGU's search for legal means to dismiss Senior Lecturer and Chair of the Government and Politics Department, Neve Gordon. These comments came in response to an opinion piece published by Dr. Gordon in the Los Angeles Times on 21 August, in which he called for a comprehensive boycott of his country as a means to pressure Israel to end its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. (pdf) |
| July 16, 2009 |
Iran |
Letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei expressing concern about the recent arrests and continued detention of a large number of academics, scholars, and student activists in Iran without any formal charges and without access to legal representation. The 9 July 2009 arrest of Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh, a prominent Iranian-American social scientist, is a primary focus. (pdf) |
| June 30, 2009 |
Iran |
Letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressing grave concern regarding the large-scale wave of intimidation, arrests, and campus expulsions carried out by Iranian security forces against peaceful student activists and protesters on various university campuses throughout Iran since December 2008. (pdf) |
| June 26, 2009 |
France |
CAF-endorsed open letter to Madame Catherine Bréchignac, Présidente du CNRS regarding a disciplinary hearing of Vincent Geisser voicing concern that this is related to his work on Islam in France. (pdf)
Related letters:
Open letter to Madame Catherine Bréchignac, Présidente du CNRS from California
Scholars for Academic Freedom (pdf)
Open letter to Madame Catherine Bréchignac, Présidente du CNRS from academics, independent scholars, and writers based outside France (pdf) |
| June 19, 2009 |
Canada |
Request by the Minister of State (Technology and Science) for a second review process of the grant-in-aid secured from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The grant helped fund the York University conference, Israel/Palestine: Mapping Models of Statehood and Paths to Peace. Three letters sent: Minister Goodyear (pdf); SSHRC President Gaffield (pdf); York University President Shoukri (pdf)
Reply from Goodyear's office received June 22, 2009 |
| May 27, 2009 |
Israel |
Refusal of Israeli authorities to allow Dr. Nicola Pratt to enter the West Bank on April 22, 2009 to present two seminars at the institute for Women's Studies at Bir Zeit University. (pdf) |
| May 21, 2009 |
Israel |
Commendation of Tel Aviv University President Zvi Galil for his May 3, 2009 letter regarding student Omar Barghouti's petition to boycott Israeli universities. (pdf)
Reply received June 21, 2009 |
| May 8, 2009 |
United States |
Alleged misconduct and investigation of Prof. William Robinson of University of California, Santa Barbara (pdf)
UPDATE: Case dismissed on June 24, 2009. (AAUP follow-up letter) |
| April 29, 2009 |
Iran |
Treatment by security forces of student demonstrators on several university campuses (pdf) |
| April 29, 2009 |
Turkey |
Pattern of arrests and detention of university faculty and rectors in connection with the Ergenekon investigation (pdf) |
| April 23, 2009 |
United States |
Cancellation of Professor Norman Finkelstein's lecture at Clark University. (pdf)
April 29, 2009 letter responding to rescheduling of lecture. (pdf)
Reply received April 29, 2009
|
| March 4, 2009 |
United States |
Bard University termination of Professor Joel Kovel’s appointment.. (pdf)
Reply received March 9, 2009 |
| January 5, 2009 |
Israel |
Military campaign against the Gaza Strip that has included the killing of students outside the Gaza Training College in Gaza City and the bombing of the Gaza Islamic University (pdf) |
| December 18, 2008 |
Palestine Authority |
Reports of detention of students without trial at West Bank universities, apparently because of their political affiliations (pdf) |
| December 18, 2008 |
Palestine Authority |
Violent incidents at al-Azhar university in Gaza and the role of Palestinian security forces in these incidents (pdf) |
| November 5, 2008 |
Iran |
Arrest of Ms. Esha Momeni, a graduate student in the department of journalism and media studies at California State University, Northridge in Iran (pdf) |
| November 4, 2008 |
Egypt |
Recent violation of academic freedom on Egyptian university campuses (pdf) |
| November 4, 2008 |
Iran |
Confiscation of Ms. Sussan Tahmasebi's passport in Iran (pdf) |
| September 12, 2008 |
Iran |
Arrest and detention of Professor Mehdi Zakerian, Azad University (pdf) |
| July 22, 2008 |
Saudi Arabia |
Continued imprisonment of Professor Al-Faleh (pdf) |
| July 14, 2008 |
Egypt |
Delay of the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education in replying to a US Fulbright Commission recommendation (pdf) |
| June 9, 2008 |
US |
Visa denial for Professor Mahmoud Abossowa (pdf)
Reply received June 30, 2008 |
| June 9, 2008 |
US |
US Army War College and Professor Sherifa Zuhur (pdf) |
| June 3, 2008 |
Israel |
Professor Norman Finkelstein denied entry into Israel (pdf) |
| June 2, 2008 |
US |
Prevention of students from Gaza from studying abroad (pdf) |
| May 30, 2008 |
Saudi Arabia |
Arrest and detention of Professor Matrouk Al-Faleh (pdf) |
| May 27, 2008 |
Turkey |
Forced resignation of ITS Chairman of the Board of Governors (pdf)
Reply received dated June 30, 2008 (pdf) |
| May 1, 2008 |
Israel |
Continued restriction of travel for students from Gaza (pdf) |
| April 1, 2008 |
Iran |
Attack and arrests of students of Shiraz University (pdf) |
| March 10, 2008 |
Palestine Authority |
Rocket fire on Israeli towns bordering Gaza (pdf) |
| March 7, 2008 |
Israel |
Dismissal of Nizar Hassan, filmmaker and professor at Sapir College. (pdf) |
| February 27, 2008 |
Palestine Authority/Gaza/PLO |
Attack on educational facities in Gaza (pdf) |
| January 7, 2008 |
Iran |
Arrest of students at December 7, 2007 demonstrations in Iran. (pdf) |
|
Egypt |
Restrictions on student expression on
Egyptian campuses. (pdf) |
| November 7, 2007 |
Egypt |
Egyptian students' rights violations |
| November 4, 2007 |
US |
Dismissal of duties of Dr. Cris Toffolo at St. Thomas University |
| October 19, 2007 |
Israel |
Students' rights (freedom of movement) |
| September 4, 2007 |
US |
Tenure case of Professor Norman G. Finkelstein (pdf) |
| September 4, 2007 |
US |
Cancellation of a scheduled talk by John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (pdf) |
| June 11, 2007 |
US |
Grave concern with aspects both of the briefing report titled “Campus Anti-Semitism,” released by the United States Commission on Civil Rights in early 2007 and of the “Findings and Recommendations of the United States Commission on Civil Rights Regarding Campus Anti-Semitism,” dated April 3, 2006.
Related article U. of California at Irvine Is Cleared in Civil-Rights Office's Investigation of Anti-Semitism Allegations (http://chronicle.com/daily/2007/12/966n.htm) |
| June 06 2007 |
Israel |
Broad assault on the education system in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Response dated August 9, 2007 (click here for .pdf) |
| May 30, 2007 |
Iran |
Joint letter with ISIS
to Iran regarding Dr. Haleh Esfandiari and Dr. Kian Tajbakhash |
| May 30, 2007 |
Jordan |
Dismissal of 16 university
professors from Al-Zarq al-Ahliyyah University in Jordan |
| May 29,
2007 |
Re Iran |
Statement
of concern regarding travel to Iran |
| May 22,
2007 |
Iran |
Continued
harassment, expulsion and arrest of students at Amir
Kabir University of Technology in Tehran. |
| May 22, 2007 |
Palestine National Authority/PLO |
Attacks on schools, libraries and educational
facilities in Gaza.
|
| May 11, 2007 |
Iran |
Detention of Dr. Haleh Esfandiari in Tehran.
Read
the Washington Post article regarding CAF on Esfandiari May 1, 2008 |
| May 7, 2007 |
Egypt |
Restrictions on student expression on
Egyptian campuses. |
| April 17, 2007 |
Saudi Arabia |
Recent academic restrictions in Saudi
Arabia. |
| April 10, 2007 |
US |
Tenure case of Professor Norman Finkelstein. |
| February 14, 2007 |
US |
Cancellation of Dr. Joel Beinin's lecture
at Harker School. |
| February 13, 2007 |
Turkey |
Detention and deportation of Kristiina
Koivunen. |
| February 13, 2007 |
Iran |
Expulsion of Matin Meshkin. |
| February 7, 2007 |
Turkey |
Expulsion from Gazi University of Dr.
Atilla Yayla. |
| January 25, 2007 |
Turkey |
Criminal investigation of Dr. Taner Akçam. |
| January 16, 2007 |
UAE |
Arrest and questioning of American
scholar, Assistant Professor Syed Ali, and his subsequent
expulsion from Dubai. |
| November 10,
2006 |
Iraq |
Killing of two prominent Iraqi academics. |
| October 19, 2006 |
US |
Professor Tony Judt's talk cancelled at
Polish Consulate. |
| October
3, 2006 |
US |
US Department of State's second visa denial
for Professor Tareq Ramadan (letter to Condoleeza Rice)
Update: AAR vs. Chertoff (lawsuit regarding Ramadan's visa denial) |
| October
3, 2006 |
US |
US Department of State's second visa denial
for Professor Tareq Ramadan (letter to Karen Hughes)
Reply dated October 18, 2006 (.pdf file) |
| September
21, 2006 |
Israel |
Occupational therapy students denied access
to study in the West Bank. |
| September
13, 2006 |
Iran |
Purge of liberal and secular faculty members
from the universities in Iran. |
| August
23, 2006 |
Iran |
Death of Akbar Mohammadi and the condition
of Manuchehr Mohammadi in Evin Prison |
| July 25,
2006 |
Israel |
Arrest of Professor Ghazi Walid Falah
Update: Ghazi Falah,
an associate professor in the department of geography
and planning at the University of Akron, who had been
informally
accused of spying for Hezbollah in Israel, was released
Sunday, July 30, 2006 without any charges being filed.
Professor Falah holds joint Israeli and Canadian citizenship
but works in the United States on a permanent visa.
|
| July 20,
2006 |
Turkey |
Prosecution of Elif Shafak.
Update
September 21, 2006: Professor Shafak acquitted.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Turkey-Novelists-Trial.html |
| June 20,
2006 |
US |
Regarding withdrawal of offer of joint
appointment to Dr. Juan R.I. Cole
Response received June 30, 2006 |
| May
08, 2006 |
Iran |
Arrest and detention of Dr. Ramin Jahanbegloo
Update August 30, 2006: The
Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed the
release of Ramin Jahanbegloo, a Canadian-Iranian intellectual,
who has been detained in Iran for the past four months.
Jahanbegloo was released Wednesday from Tehran's infamous
Evin prison, a ministry spokesman said. |
| April 18,
2006 |
Syria |
Continued imprisonment of Professor Arif
Dalilah.
Update August 7, 2008: Professor Dalilah freed from prison today in Damascus. |
March
13, 2006
|
US |
Denial of visas to 55 Cuban scholars to
attend LASA meeting.
Response received April 26,
2006. |
| March
11, 2006 |
UAE |
Dismissal of Claudia Kiburz of Zayed University |
| November 30, 2005 |
Egypt |
Banning in Egypt of a book
published by the American University in Cairo Press,
Wahhabi Islam:
From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad by Natana
J. DeLong-Bas. |
| November 30, 2005 |
Turkey |
Prosecution ot Fatih Tas, owner of Aram
Publishing House |
| September
21, 2005 |
Turkey |
Prosecution of Orhan Pamuk. |
| September
20, 2005 |
Iran |
Continued imprisonment of Dr. Hossein
Ghazian. |
| September
6, 2005 |
Israel |
Israel's security barrier's effects on
East Jerusalem schools. |
| June
23, 2005 |
Armenia |
Detention of Yektan Turkyilmaz, PhD candidate
at Duke University, in Yerevan, Armenia. |
| June 22,
2005 |
Saudi Arabia |
Sentencing of Professor Matrouk Al-Faleh
of King Saud University. |
| June
14, 2005 |
Israel |
Proposed upgrading of College of Judea
and Samaria to university status (two letters sent).
Reply received. |
| May 27,
2005 |
Turkey |
Conference in Turkey cancelled. |
| May 18,
2005 |
Syria |
Detention and alleged torture of 40 Syrian
university students in Latakia. |
| May 13,
2005 |
United Kingdom |
Association of University
Teachers (AUT) boycott of Haifa
University and Bar Ilan University. |
| Apr 07,
2005 |
US |
Exclusion of Rashid Khalidi from participation
in NYC teacher development workshops. |
| Nov 05,
2004 |
US |
Pressure to dismiss Columbia University
Prof. Joseph Massad. |
| Aug 30,
2004 |
US |
Rescinding of visa for Dr. Tariq Ramadan.
Reply received September
3, 2004.
Update July 17, 2009: A federal appeals court today found that the U.S. government had not adequately justified its denial of a visa to a Swiss professor and leading scholar of the Muslim world. The decision, which reverses a ruling of a lower federal court, comes in a case in which the American Civil Liberties Union contended that the government's exclusion from the U.S. of Professor Tariq Ramadan violated the First Amendment rights of organizations inside the United States that had invited Ramadan to meet with and speak to their members. More information about the Ramadan case and the ACLU's separate lawsuit concerning the exclusion of South African scholar Adam Habib is available online at: www.aclu.org/exclusion |
| Mar 29,
2004 |
Saudi Arabia |
Arrest of university professors (Saudi
Arabia). |
| Dec 23,
2003 |
Iran |
Imprisonment over translation (Iran). |
| Nov 19,
2003 |
Egypt |
New Woman Institution’s registration
with Egyptian Ministry of Social Affairs (Egypt). |
| Jul 25,
2003 |
Iran |
Violent attacks on university students
in Iran. |
| |
Lebanon |
Interrogation of philosophy professor Dr.
Adonis Akra. |
| Jan 21,
2003 |
Israel |
Closure of two Palestinian universities
in the West Bank. |
| Nov 13,
2002 |
UAE |
Forced early retirement of Prof. Hassan
Hamdan Al Alkim. |
| Nov 11,
2002 |
Iran |
Death sentence and other harsh penalties
issued against Professor Hashem Aghajari. |
| Aug 13,
2002 |
Egypt |
Sentencing of Professor Saad Eddin Ibrahim. |
| Aug 09,
2002 |
Gaza |
Bombing at Hebrew University. |
| July 22,
2002 |
Israel |
Closure of Al Quds University.
Reply received August
6, 2002 |
| Jun 05,
2002 |
Israel |
Damage to Palestinian institutions. |
| Jan 11,
2002 |
Syria |
Professor Arif Dalila. |
| May 30,
2001 |
Egypt |
Professor Saad Eddin Ibrahim. |
| Mar 26,
2001 |
Tunisia |
Escalating attacks on Tunisian scholars. |
| Mar 16,
2001 |
Israel |
Israel’s intensified closure policy
with particular impact on Birzeit University. |
| Jan 24,
2001 |
Iran |
Iranian government attacks on scholars. |
