NEAR Newsletter May 2007
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 (May 2007). 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
Egypt: Professor Faces Military Court
Dr Muhammad Ali Beshr, professor of engineering at the University of Menoufiya and the general secretary of the Union of Egyptian Engineers, was arrested together with Dr Khalid Awda, a geology professor the 14 January 2007. According to information, he is facing the Egyptian military court solely for his ideas and his membership to the Muslim Brotherhood.
United States of America: After Almost two years Bolivian Historian is still waiting for his US Visa
Dr Waskar Ari, has been waiting for almost two years to take his post of Assistant Professor of History and Ethnic Studies at the University of Nebraska (UNL). Since 2005 the US federal government had his visa withheld, now, after the employment visa petition filed by the University of Nebraska has been approved by the Department for Homeland Security (DHS), he can now apply for a visa in the US Consulate in Bolivia; there is, however no assurance that the visa will be issued.
Iran: Iranian-American Academic Held in Iran
Haleh Esfandiari, Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, has been under interrogation since December 2006 and is now in a prison in Iran. According to some reports, apparently she stands accused of collaborating with Israel, although the Tehran government has announced no formal charges.
Iran: Another Academic Held in Iran
Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh, a senior research fellow at The New School in New York City, and an American citizen, has been held in detention in Iran since 11 May 2007, the information comes from a press statement issued by the Open Society Institute (OSI). The Institute expressed concerns for his safety and called for his immediate release.
South Africa: Lecturer Dismissed
Fazel Khan, a sociology lecturer and staff-union leader at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, (UKZN) has been dismissed for allegedly “bringing the university into disrepute and thereby acting disloyally and in breach of the fiduciary duty which [he] owes to the University as its employee” by releasing damaging information to the news media.
** 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