NEAR Newsletter February 2004
Welcome to the NEAR Newsletter. In this edition you will find our most recent Action Alerts and also an ‘Academic Freedom in the Media’ section, listing news by country (February 2004). Any comments and suggestions about the content and layout of the newsletter will be gratefully received at roisin.joyce@nearinternational.org.
NEAR Action Alerts *Taken from the NEAR website
Nepal: Nepali Teacher Held Incommunicado
Mr Tula Thapa, a 36 year old teacher, and other three men (Rajendra Adhikari, Ram Bahadur Rana, and Man Bahadur Shah) were arrested on 1 February in the far west of Nepal. Amnesty International declares that several witnesses have reported that all four are being tortured in police custody. Relatives and lawyers have been denied access to the men, and so far the police have not presented them before any court.
Kuwait: Researcher Sentenced to one Year in Prison for Lecture
The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN has issued an alert protesting the one-year prison sentence handed down to writer, journalist and researcher Yasser al-Habib, who was reportedly convicted on 20 January 2004 of ‘questioning the conduct and integrity of some of the “companions” of the prophet Muhammad’ in a lecture he had delivered in 2003.
Syria: Call to Release Detained Student
Reporters Without Borders has issued an alert calling on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to immediately release Massud Hamid, a journalism student and photographer who has been held in incommunicado detention since 24 July 2003 in Adra prison, near the capital, Damascus. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Police arrested Mr Hamid, aged 29, on 24 July 2003 while he was writing an exam at Damascus University.
China: Further Crackdown on Internet Dissidents
Reporters Without Borders has condemned the jail sentences handed down to members of the banned spiritual group Falun Gong on 19 February 2004. The five Falun Gong members were accused of assisting in the online publication of news about the ill-treatment in prison of a student Falun Gong member Reporters Without Borders has called for the release of all 22 Falun Gong members who are currently imprisoned for posting news on the Internet.
Nepal: "Disappeared" Teachers detained in Army Camp
Amnesty International has received reports that Maha Prasad Angai, a Nepalese teacher, is currently being held in the custody of the Royal Nepal Army's (RNA), at Baireni army camp, in Dhading district. He was reportedly arrested by security forces personnel in plain clothes on 7 November 2003 whilst walking in Sorahkutte, Kathmandu.
** Please continue to send us any relevant cases involving threats to academic freedom and education rights, for potential alerts.
The Network for Education and Academic Rights (NEAR) is a membership-based, non-governmental organisation which facilitates international collaboration between organisations active in issues of academic freedom and educational rights, and committed to promoting an understanding of, and respect for, the values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
For more information about NEAR, please visit our website at www.nearinternational.org
For further information please contact:-
Roisin Joyce
Deputy Director
roisin.joyce@nearinternational.org