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Iranian physicist sentenced to prison, Nature, May 15, 2012

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Omid Kokabee Petition Sent to Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i

Kokabee Imprisonment Creates Grave Concerns for Iranian Students in US, CCS Reports to Secretary Clinton

Petition for the Release of Omid Kokabee

CCS Requests the Release of Iranian Graduate Student

CCS has been advocating on behalf of Kokabee by an open letter to Ayatollah Khamenei and by a petition signed by 251 scholars and students that has been submitted to Iranian authorities. Other science organizations have joined CCS on behalf of Kokabee and his case has been cited as being of concern in the report of Ahmed Shaheed, the special UN rapporteur on human rights in Iran. CCS will continue its efforts to obtain justice for Omid Kokabee.

Professor Al-Singace is also Director of the Human Rights Bureau of the Haq Movement for Civil Liberties and Democracy, an opposition political movement. He was sentenced to life in prison in 2011 because of his reporting on human rights abuses in Bahrain.

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Retrial in coup plot, Gulf Daily News, May 1, 2012

Bahrain announces retrial for hunger striker Khawaja, The Guardian, April 30, 2012

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Al-Singace Appeal Held on April 30 in Bahrain
Bahrain Should Reinstate Professors, Students as Independent Commission Recommends, SAR Urges

Professor Abdul Jail Al-Singace Re-arrested in Bahrain

Bahraini mechanical engineer arrested

“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.” That’s what Archimedes, the Greek mathematician, said 2,300 years ago. And that’s what Chen Guangcheng, the blind rights lawyer who escaped house arrest in rural China in a dash to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, tried to do.

Chen’s lever was the nobility of his cause to protect Chinese women from forced abortions and sterilizations. That lever was made long by friends who used social media and a Congressional hearing to highlight that cause.

The fulcrum he used was American power—the presence in China of the American secretaries of State and Treasury, there to negotiate matters of security and trade.

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Grant US Asylum to Blind Chinese lawyer, CCS Urges Secretary of State Clinton

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Published in The Daily Beast

Why Help Chen Guangcheng?, The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 8, 2012

And the world that Chen moved—the world of international affairs—was one that would have ignored him and his cause had he not suddenly placed his long lever on that temporary but solid fulcrum.

It may well be that, in the end, that world will win. The brute power of a China intent on controlling its people may rob Chen of his lever, his fulcrum, and his fleeting chance to move the world. It now looks as if he’ll be allowed to leave for the U.S., ostensibly to study, and to take his immediate family with him—a face-saving solution for both China and the U.S., with no guarantee of safety for his extended family and his supporters.

In his dealings with China, President Obama should raise the cause of human rights to the highest level.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. And here President Obama has something to learn from one of his predecessors, President Reagan.

President Reagan's first meeting with Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev during the Geneva Summit in Switzerland, 1985

In 1986, Reagan orchestrated the release of Anatoly Scharansky, a prominent Soviet dissident, from a Siberian labor camp. International pressure laid the groundwork, and diplomats helped, but what the president did was crucial. After he got out, Scharansky said: “They tried their best to find a place where I was isolated. But all the resources of a superpower cannot isolate the man who hears a voice of freedom, a voice I heard from the very chamber of my soul.” Scharansky’s voice was magnified, Reagan kept up the pressure, the human rights of Russians were strengthened, and the world was changed.

Chen Guangcheng can’t see, but in the chamber of his soul he’s heard that same voice of freedom. And now he pleads its cause for the people of China. In his dealings with China, President Obama should raise the cause of human rights to the highest level. At the very least he should insist that none of Chen’s extended family, and none of the colleagues who helped him, are punished. And he should make it clear to the Chinese authorities that he’ll never abandon the human rights of their people.

That land needs Chen’s voice, even from abroad; these days, it can be magnified by social media. And so does the cause of decency in the hard-headed world of international affairs. It’s a world that can be moved for the good, but only if the ancient wisdom of Archimedes is heeded. The lever of dissent has to be long, and the fulcrum—the immovable determination of the American president—has to be steady.

Walter Reich is the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Professor of International Affairs, Ethics and Human Behavior at George Washington University and former Director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. He is also a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center and a Co-Chair of the Committee of Concerned Scientists, a human-rights organization.

©2011 The Newsweek/Daily Beast Company LLC

Fang Lizhi

It is with great sadness that we report the death on April 6, 2012 of our distinguished colleague and Advisory Committee member Fang Lizhi of the University of Arizona.

Dr. Fang was a brilliant astrophysicist and influential proponent of human rights in his native China. His political ideals inspired the pro-democracy student movement in China that eventually resulted in the protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Dr. Fang’s political activism began in the 1950’s when he confessed his views on human rights to the Communist Party and was therefore expelled from the party, removed from China’s nuclear program and sent to do hard labor for several months. In 1958, Dr. Fang was “rehabilitated” and assigned to the faculty of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). By 1965 he was considered one of the most productive physicists in China.

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Fang Lizhi, Chinese Physicist and Seminal Dissident, Dies at 76, New York Times, April 7, 2012

BBC News - Fang Lizhi, China dissident who inspired Tiananmen …, BBC News, April 7, 2012

Fang Lizhi 1936-2012, University of Arizona Physics Department

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Fang Lizhi

During the Cultural Revolution, which began in 1966, the USTC and Dr. Fang were moved from Beijing to a rural province, where he was again sent to do hard labor, this time as part of China’s “re-education” program. During the evening he studied the theory of relativity and in 1972, when he was permitted to resume his scientific research, he wrote the first paper on modern cosmological research in China. His theories were considered to be contrary to dialectical materialism—the official philosophy of the communist party. However, he continued his controversial research and traveled to scientific conferences worldwide.

In 1984, Dr. Fang was appointed vice president of USTC. In addition to his teaching and scientific research, he wrote for popular magazines and gave lectures that advocated freedom of thought and speech and encouraged social responsibility of intellectuals.

Dr. Fang’s wife, Li Shuxian, a physics professor at Beijing University, shared his political beliefs and endured similar sanctions for her activities in support of the fundamental rights of the Chinese people.

In 1987, widespread student demonstrations for political and economic freedoms inspired by Dr. Fang’s ideas led to his expulsion from the Communist Party for the second time and his removal from his position as Vice President of the USTC.

After the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square, Dr. Fang and his wife sought refuge in the U.S. embassy because the Chinese government blamed them for the demonstrations. They emigrated to the U.S. in 1990.

Once in the U.S., Dr. Fang did not stop advocating for the fundamental freedoms of the Chinese people. Until his death last month, he continued his life’s work in teaching, scientific research, and the protection of human rights as a faculty member at the University of Arizona.

Read our letter:

May 1, 2012

The Hon. Hillary R. Clinton
Secretary of State
US Department of State
2201 C Street NW

Dear Secretary Clinton:

We are an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars, devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and scientific freedom for colleagues all over the world. We are writing now in concern for Chen Guangchen.

As reported in news reports, Chen Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer who had defended Chinese families forced to undergo sterilization or abortions under Chinese law, has sought asylum in the US Embassy in Beijing. Previously, Mr. Chen had been imprisoned on trumped up charges for four years and, upon his release, held as a prisoner in his home without charge or sentence for 19 months. When he complained to the authorites, he and his wife were severely beaten.

In China, human rights are routinely violated by disregard of due process and the equal administration of law. We have shared with your office many similar cases of violation of human rights during the past forty years of our activity. Unlike some other Chinese dissidents who were punished for exercising their rights to free speech, Chen only asserted the right to invoke the protection of Chinese law and procedure.

The fact that Chen sought asylum in the US Embassy shows that the US is still viewed as a beacon of freedom by many around the world. Our protection of political refugees has enriched our country and promoted freedom abroad. Wanton disregard of human rights, including the right to due process of law, also threatens the US in its relationship to China.

We therefore urge you to grant Chen and his family asylum in the United States. We also urge you to insist that Chinese authorities release relatives and friends who have been detained after his escape who have committed no crime since Chen had been held without charges. While Chen has stated that he would prefer to remain in his native country to practice his profession, past history makes it unlikely that he can do that safely.

Sincerely,

Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

Copies To:

Michael H. Posner
Assistant Secretary of State
US Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington DC 20520

CCS has written two letters to the government of Bahrain regarding Dr. Al-Singace’s case. We wrote another letter to the prime minister on April 29, urging  him to ensure that the appeals process is conducted fairly — according to Bahrain’s obligations under international law.
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OUR PREVIOUS ACTIVITIES

Bahrain Should Reinstate Professors, Students as Independent Commission Recommends, SAR Urges

Professor Abdul Jail Al-Singace Re-arrested in Bahrain

Bahraini mechanical engineer arrested

April 29, 2012

His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa
Prime Minister
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
P.O. Box 547, Government Road
Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain
Fax: +973-1-753-6343

Your Excellency:

We are an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and scientific freedom for colleagues all over the world. We are writing you now in concern for Professor Abdul Jail Al-Singace.

Professor Al-Singace is a scholar of mechanical engineering who has worked at the University of Bahrain since 1995. Apparently, on June 22, 2011, Dr. Al-Singace was sentenced to life in prison on allegations stemming from his reporting on Bahrain’s human rights situation.

We wrote to you on September 10, 2010, and again on March 24, 2011, because we were informed that Dr. Al-Singace’s arrest and subsequent sentencing to life in prison were due to his peaceful exercise of his fundamental rights protected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Bahrain has acceded. Furthermore, we were concerned that he was being held without regular access to legal representation, his family or medical care, which is especially important because Dr. Al-Singace is partially paralysed.

We are writing you now because we understand that there will be a hearing on Dr. Al-Singace’s appeal before the Court of Cassation on April 30, 2012. We urge you to ensure that the appeal process will be conducted in a manner consistent with internationally recognized standards of due process, fair trial and detention, in accordance with Bahrain’s obligations under international law, and that any charges, convictions or sentences against Dr. Al-Singace related to his peaceful exercise of protecting human rights be lifted. Furthermore, we reiterate our earlier requests that you ensure Dr. Al-Singace’s well being pending his earliest release, including ensuring regular access to legal counsel of his choosing, to his family and to medical treatment.

We appreciate your immediate attention to this important matter and look forward to your earliest reply as we continue to monitor Dr. Al-Singace’s case.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely yours,

Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

Copies To:

Ambassador Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo
Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain
3502 International Drive NW
Washington, DC 20008
Fax: 1-202-362-2192

His Excellency Dr. Majid Bin Ali Al Nuaimi
Minister of Education
Ministry of Education Building
Al Istiklal Street
P.O. Box 43
Isa City, Kingdom of Bahrain

Assistant Secretary Jeffrey Feltman
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520 USA

Assistant Secretary Michael Posner
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520 USA

His Excellency Thomas C. Krajeski
Ambassador of the United States to the Kingdom of Bahrain
Embassy of the United States of America
Bldg 979, Road 3119, Block 331, Zinj
Kingdom of Bahrain
Via email to: ambsecretary@bahrainembassy.org
Fax: +973 1727-0547

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Scholars at Risk calls for letters on behalf of Gu Chuan of China

April 23, 2012

President Hu Jintao
The State Council General Office
2 Fuyoujie,Xichengqu
Beijing 100017
People’s Republic of China

Your Excellency:

We are an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and scientific freedom for colleagues all over the world. We write now in concern over Mr. Gu Chuan.

We understand from Scholars at Risk (SAR) that Mr. Chuan, a blogger, newspaper contributor and editor, was invited by Columbia University in New York to take up a one-year position as a Visiting Scholar. SAR understands that Mr. Chuan, his wife and their two children attempted to depart for the United States on April 4th but were prevented from boarding an outbound plane from Beijing and that Mr. Chuan’s passport, including his US visa, was confiscated. Furthermore, SAR understands that he was told that he was barred from travel as doing so may “endanger national security” and that his travel ban related to a prior scholar-writer’s flight to the United States earlier this year and that person’s subsequent critical descriptions of his experiences when held by the Chinese police. It was reported that Mr. Chuan’s apartment block has experienced increased police presence over the past several days.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which China is a signatory, protects freedom of expression, right to travel and scientific exchange. Public reports that Mr. Chuan was denied permission to travel to take up a position at Columbia University suggest that these rights have not been respected. Moreover, the allegation that Mr. Chuan was restricted from traveling in part because of the expressive activity of a prior scholar, if true, would be doubly improper in both imposing restrictions on Mr. Chuan for the conduct of another person and for expressive activity (of the other person) which is itself protected under international standards to which China is a party. Therefore, the apparent restricting of Mr. Chuan’s travel suggests serious concerns not only about his ability to engage with colleagues in his field, but also about intimidation of intellectuals generally in China.

We therefore respectfully urge you to expedite approval of any pending or future travel requests and to prohibit further police harassment of Mr. Chuan. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,

Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

Copies To:

Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China
No. 2, Chaoyangmen Nandajie, Chaoyang District,
Beijing, 100701 CHINA
Email: webmaster@mfa.glv.cn

H.E. Mr. Zhang Yesui
Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the United States of America
Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the United States of America
3505 International Place NW
Washington, DC 20008 USA
Fax: +1 (202) 495-2190
Email: chinaembassy_us@fmprc.gov.cn

The Honorable Hillary Clinton
Secretary of State
United States of America
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520 USA

The Honorable Gary F. Locke
United States Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China
United States Embassy of Beijing, China
No. 55 An Jia Lou Lu 100600 CHINA
Fax: (86-10) 8531-4200

President Lee C. Bollinger
Columbia University in the City of New York
Office of the President
202 Low Library
535 West 116th Street, Mail Code 4309
New York NY 10027

Read our letter:

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Health Professionals in Bahrain: Arrested and Disappeared

March 30, 2012

His Majesty Shaikh Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa
King of Bahrain
Office of His Majesty the King
PO Box 555, Rifa’a Palace,
Isa Town Central, Kingdom of Bahrain

Your Majesty:

We are an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and scientific freedom for colleagues all over the world. We write now in concern about health professionals from the Salmaniya Medical Complex in Manama.

As you know, many health professionals from the Salmaniya Medical Complex were arrested because of their activities during protests at and near the Medical Complex in February and March of 2011. Although we understand that these individuals have been released from prison, many remain under court supervision, having been convicted of various crimes under Bahraini law. Even after the Public Prosecutor invalidated their military court sentences, twenty of these health professionals were convicted of felonies by civilian courts and now face prison sentences of five to fifteen years.

Your Majesty established the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) to investigate these events, to determine if there were violations of international human rights laws and norms, and to make recommendations as deemed appropriate. The BICI thoroughly analyzed the events surrounding the February and March 2011 protests and found that allegations of prolonged incommunicado detention, mistreatment of detainees, and torture were substantiated. Of the medical examinations performed for the BICI that confirmed torture and mistreatment, eight have recently been released by the courts to the defendants, according to Physicians for Human Rights. The other medical reports performed for BICI remain sealed.

We agree with United States Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Michael Posner, that your initiation of the Commission process is a great credit to you. Moreover, we join Assistant Secretary Posner in urging you to implement those recommendations by dropping criminal charges against all persons accused of offenses involving political expression such as these professionals.

In addition, according to Amnesty International, lawyers defending the health care professionals in civilian courts have encountered serious obstacles in obtaining fair trials for their clients. The lawyers claim that they were not able to call defense witnesses of their choice, were not allowed sufficient time to prepare, and especially, that they have been denied the opportunity to have independent confirmation of their clients’ claims of torture and mistreatment, except for the eight cases cited above. The health care professionals under indictments have also lost their jobs and continue to suffer serious financial hardship.

We urge you to reinstate all of the defendants in their professional positions pending their appeals. We also urge you to ensure that the appeal proceedings of health professionals comply with international standards for fair trial and to respect the defendants’ right of freedom of expression and assembly, in accordance with the recommendations of the BICI. Finally, in view of the BICI findings of torture and mistreatment of health professionals, we strongly urge that all criminal indictments against these professionals be dismissed.

Sincerely,

Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

Copies To:

Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa
Office of the Prime Minister
P.O. Box 1000, al-Manama, Bahrain
Fax: +973 175 33 033

Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs
Shaikh Khalid bin Ali bin Abdullah Al
Khalifa
Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs
P.O. Box 13, al-Manama, Bahrain
Fax: +973 175 31 284

The Hon. Michael Posner, Assistant Secretary of State
Bureau of Democracy, Labor and Human Rights
US Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington DC 20520

Read our letter:

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Scholars at Risk calls for letters on behalf of imprisoned Iranian scholars

March 19, 2012

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
c/o H.E. Mr. Mohammad Khazaee
Ambassador of Iran to the United Nations
Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
662 Third Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10017, USA

Your Excellency:

We are an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and academic freedom for colleagues all over the world. We write now in grave concern for Professor Abdolreza Ghanbari.

Professor Abdolreza Ghanbari completed a PhD in Persian language and literature and has taught this subject in high schools and at Payame Nour University. We understand that his only political activity was to belong to a trade union that had been dissolved in 2007. Ghanbari was sentenced to death on January 30, 2010 on charges of “enmity against God” (Moharebeh) for allegedly participating in protests on the holiday of Ashura in December 2009. We further understand that the Tehran Appeals Court, Branch 36, upheld Professor Ghanbari’s death sentence in April 2010 and the Commission of Justice in Tehran rejected his request for pardon on February 28, 2012.

It was reported that while Professor Ghanbari was detained in Evin Prison before his trial, he was interrogated and forced under duress to confess the charges against him. Ghanbbari’s lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, is serving a six-year prison sentence and unable to defend him. These actions constitute a serious disregard of international standards of due process, fair trial and detention as guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is signatory. Such disregard of due process resulting in a death sentence for this scholar is particularly distressing, given Iran’s rich intellectual history and traditional support for the values of scholarship.

We join other international academic and human rights organizations in urging you to intervene to ensure the reversal of Professor Ghanbari’s death sentence. We also urge you to otherwise ensure his well-being, access to family, medical treatment and counsel of his choosing, pending his earliest release.

We appreciate your attention to this important matter and look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

Copies To:

Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Sadeqh Larijani
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh
(Office of the Head of the Judiciary)
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave. (south of Serah-e Jomhouri)
Tehran 1316814737
Islamic Republic of Iran
larijani@dadgostary-tehran.ir or info@dadgostary-tehran.ir

The Honorable Hillary Clinton
United States Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520 USA

The Honorable Navanethem Pillay
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland

Scholars at Risk
New York University
194 Mercer St., 4th floor
New York, NY 10012 USA
Fax: +1 212 995-4402
scholarsatrisk@nyu.edu

Dear friends and colleagues;

Hi, I would like to inform you that last night I have been reinstated officially to my position – Chair of Telecommunication Engineering department in Ahlia University. Appreciating your remarkable efforts.

Wishing the day that all Bahrainis receive their rights.

Best Regards

Masaud

Our Previous Activities

Bahrain Should Reinstate Professors, Students as Independent Commission Recommends, SAR Urges

An Update on Professor Jahromi in Bahrain

CCS Cites Recent Report of Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry in Dr. Jahromi’s Case

Reinstate Bahraini Academic, CCS Urges University

Professor Masaud Jahromi Arrested in Bahrain

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• An Intellectual Threat in Bahrain? [Dean's Corner] (scienceblogs.com)