NEAR Newsletter February 2005
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 2005). 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
Vietnam: Former Professor and Prisoner of Conscience to be Released After More than 10 Years
Nguyen Dinh Huy, a former English and History professor and prisoner of conscience, will be released in the coming days. Amnesty International reports that the former professor is being released as part of a general amnesty for over 8,000 prisoners to mark Tet, the Lunar New Year. The professor will be released together with other three prisoner of conscience.
Belarus: Ailing Nuclear Scientist Bandazhevsky Denied Pardon
Professor Yury Bandazhevsky, nuclear scientist, former rector of the Gomel Medical Institute and writer on the effects of radioactive emission on human beings, was refused early release by the Belarus authorities in January 2005. According to reports received by International PEN, the commission of the labor colony settlement where Bandazhevsky is held refused to grant him a conditional early release.
Egypt: Call on Egyptian Goverment to Release Arrested Dissidents and Academics
Human Rights Watch is calling on the Egyptian government to immediately release a number of peaceful critics arrested in recent days on politically motivated charges, among them students and academics. The International Federation of Journalists also informs that, in protest of the most recent raids on dissent carried out by the Egyptian authorities, the journalist El Sahary has began a hunger strike.
Nepal: Nepali Students and Political Leaders Arrested and Under Thread
At least 150 political leaders and student activists have been arbitrarily detained or placed under house arrest since last week's seizure of power by King Gyanendra and the Royal Nepalese Army, Human Rights Watch declared. The organisation commented that with ongoing arrests reported around the country, there is a risk that some of those being arrested will be "disappeared" by the security forces and never seen again, as it happened during Nepal's last state of emergency in 2001.
Iran: Prison Sentence Confirmed for Dissident Students
According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Iran is undergoing the biggest-ever crackdown on online expression in the Middle East. Two Iranian Internet users and cyber-dissidents recently have had their sentences confirmed. Cyber-dissident Mojtaba Lotfi was imprisoned on 5 February 2005 after an appeal court upheld a sentence of three years and 10 months in prison for posting "lies" on the Internet (please read Related NEAR Alerts).
Malaysia: Repeated Interrogation Of Student Over Critical Article
The Science University of Malaysia (USM) has for the second time (please see related NEAR Alerts) investigated Ali Bukhari Amir, a senior communications major at the school, for his critical articles on the university. The focus of the investigation has now shifted to the student's website and his role in founding a writers' association.
Russia: Scientist, Charged With Divulging State Secrets, Faces 10 Years Imprisonment
Russian authorities have charged a Russian scientist with divulging state secrets to a South Korean manufacturer of car wheels, sparking fears among rights activists that the move is part of a politically-motivated campaign by security forces. Professor Oscar A. Kaibyshev, 66, head of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for Metals Superplasticity Problems, faces 10 years in prison for illegally exporting technology and research to a subsidiary of South Koreas Hankook Tire Manufacturing Co.
Botswana: Australian Academic Faces Deportation in Botswana For Criticism of President
The Council for Assisting Refugee Academics (CARA) informs us that Professor Kenneth Good, a leading Academic, has been served with an expulsion notice by the Botswana Government. It is reported that this follows his public criticism of the President and his chosen successor. President Festus Mogae gave Professor Good, an Australian citizen and Professor in the Department of Political and Administrative Studies at the University of Botswana in Gaborone, two days to leave Botswana on the 18 February 2005, for lambasting his decision to handpick Vice-President Lieutenant-General Ian Khama as his successor.
** 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