Committee of Concerned Scientists

An international non-profit organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars dedicated to protecting the human rights and scientific freedom of our colleagues around the world.

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Case Against Chinese-Canadian Scientist Ends With Mistrial But Government Files Notice of Intent to Pursue Retrial

August 6, 2021

After alleged serious missteps by government agents in pursuit of Dr. Anming Hu, former University of Tennessee Professor, the court rules a mistrial but the government, though caught in fabricating several issues in regard to this case, decides to retry case against Professor.

August 4, 2021

Hon. Thomas A. Varlan
United States District Judge
United States District Court
Eastern District of Tennessee
800 Market Street, Suite 143
Knoxville, TN 37902

Your Honor:

The Committee of Concerned Scientists (CCS) is 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 to express our concern about what appears to be an overzealous prosecution of Dr. Anming Hu, former University of Tennessee Professor for his alleged concealment of his affiliation with Beijing University of Technology while receiving funding from NASA. Our understanding is that the U.S. Government has failed to prove charges against Dr. Hu beyond a reasonable doubt, which resulted in a hung jury and mistrial declared by you in June of this year. It is also our understanding that on July 30 the Government filed a Notice of Intent to Pursue a Retrial of Dr. Hu.

The facts of the case that have appeared in press reports suggest that numerous serious missteps have been made by government agents and by the administration of the University of Tennessee in the course of the investigation – which, if true, may well deserve investigations of their own. Dr. Hu’s treatment by the Government and by the University of Tennessee, which has inflicted enormous damage on him and his family, appears to be disproportionate to his violations, if any.

In the opinion of CCS, the case of Dr. Hu and many similar cases tried in the U.S. in recent years stem to a large degree from the failure of the government to clearly spell out rules related to foreign collaborations on unclassified research and the differences of these rules for different countries. Chinese American researchers have been disproportionately affected by this failure.

We understand that U.S. authorities are concerned, sometimes with justification, about efforts by Chinese authorities to illegally obtain information of a commercial or research nature using a variety of means, sometimes involving persons of Chinese nationality or origin and sometimes involving persons of other nationalities. We certainly do not condone such illegality, should it occur. However, we also do not condone the use of prosecutorial means that are themselves questionable and overzealous to the point utterly inappropriate and perhaps even constituting prosecutorial misconduct.

The CCS is especially concerned about the case of Dr. Anming Hu and similar cases of Chinese-American scientists because of our advocacy on behalf of unfairly prosecuted scientists in countries that, unlike our country, do not have independent courts.

We respectfully ask that you ensure fairness in the case of Dr. Hu. If government agents and administration of the University of Tennessee acted in bad faith, we expect you to say so as Judge James Parker did in the case of Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee. This would prevent such cases from happening elsewhere.

Sincerely,
signatures
Joel L. Lebowitz, Paul H. Plotz, Walter Reich, Eugene M. Chudnovsky, Alexander Greer
Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

Filed Under: CCS Cases, United States Tagged With: Anming Hu

Who We Are

Co-chairs

Joel L. Lebowitz, Rutgers University

Paul H. Plotz, M.D., Washington, DC

Walter Reich, George Washington University

Eugene Chudnovsky, Lehman College

Alexander Greer, Brooklyn College

Vice-chairs

Astronomy – Arno Penzias, New Enterprises Associates*

Biology – Max E. Gottesman, Columbia University

Chemistry – Zafra Lerman, MIMSAD Inc.

Computer Science – Rachelle Heller, The George Washington University

Computer Science – Jack Minker, University of Maryland, College Park

Engineering – Philip Sarachik, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering

Mathematics – Simon Levin, Princeton University

Medical Sciences – J. Joseph Blum, Duke University

Honorary Board Members

Nancy Andrews, Duke University

David Baltimore, California Institute of Technology*

Alan J. Bard, University of Texas

Jacob Bigeleisen (deceased), SUNY, Stony Brook

Raoul Bott (deceased), Harvard University

Owen Chamberlain (deceased), University of California, Berkeley

Stanley Deser, Brandeis University

Edward Gerjuoy, University of Pittsburg

David Gross, (2004 Nobel Prize in Physics), Kavil Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara*

Pierre Hohenberg (deceased), New York University

Walter Kohn (deceased), University of California, Santa Barbara*

James Langer, University of California, Santa Barbara

Peter Lax, New York University

Louis Nirenberg, New York University

Marshall Nirenberg (deceased), National Institutes of Health*

Honorary Board Members

John C. Polanyi, University of Toronto*

Stuart Rice, University of Chicago

Sir Richard J. Roberts, (1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology & Medicine), New England Biolabs*

Myriam Sarachick, City College of New York

Harold Scheraga, Cornell University

Sylvan Schweber (deceased), Brandeis University

Maxine Singer, Carnegie Institution of Washington

Alfred I. Tauber, Boston University

Steven Weinberg, University of Texas, Austin*

Myrna Weissman, Columbia University

Rosalyn S. Yalow (deceased), Mount Sinai School of Medicine*

* Nobel laureate

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