The Committee of Concerned Scientists is an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars that has been working, since 1972, on the advancement of human rights and scientific freedom for our colleagues all over the world. At this time of great international effort on the containment of COVID-19, we are concerned with the politicization of the response to the pandemic ... Continue Reading>>
Former Chinese Diplomat, and Academic with Australian Citizenship, Who Was Visiting Scholar at The University of Columbia in New York, Confined in Chinese Jail Since January 2019
Yang Hengjun has been in Chinese custody since January 2019 charged and prosecuted for espionage. Reports indicate he has been tortured and in isolation and barred from visits from Australian government officials. He is in fragile health and his wife has been denied travel privileges out of China. CCS has written the President of China requesting his immediate release due to his charges and lack ... Continue Reading>>
Academic Dismissed from Position for Criticizing China’s Political System
Chau Pui-yi, a lecturer in the Department of Social Work at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was dismissed for posting criticism of China’s political system and for its handling of the coronavirus outbreak. CCS wrote the University President requesting he review the case and reinstate the lecturer. ... Continue Reading>>
Academic and Girlfriend Arrested in China for Subversion
Xu Zhiyong, former law lecturer arrested in February for attendance at a meeting of human rights advocates. CCS writes President of China requesting review of the situation. ... Continue Reading>>
Two Academics at Hong Kong Universities Were Punished for Involvement in 2014 Demonstrations
Benny Tai Yiu-ting was sentenced in April to 16 months in prison but released in August pending appeal. The University of Hong Kong, where he is a law professor, is looking into the possibility of terminating his employment. Also, Shiu Ka-chun was terminated from his teaching position at Baptist University in Hong Kong where he was the Associate Director of the Centre for Youth Research and ... Continue Reading>>
More Often in the Past Year Academics Live in Fear in Pursuit of Their Studies
A recent editorial in Nature Magazine notes that academics should not have to live in fear in pursuit of their studies, but that more often than has been true in the past, it is becoming more frequent. There are more locations where this has been a problem this year: Chile, Hong Kong, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon where demonstrations have taken place. Also, scientists have been arrested and sentenced in ... Continue Reading>>
The Situation for the Uyghur Population in Xinjiang Deteriorates and Becomes More Dangerous Daily
China is in the process of spying on and detaining its Uyghur population in an attempt to wipe out all groups that are not traditional Hans Chinese. This creates a situation that is very dangerous for the Uyghur population, many of whom get snatched off the street for no reason and detained in what the Chinese have named “Re-Education Camps.” In these camps people are forced to eat food that is ... Continue Reading>>
Ayse Erzan, Retired Physics Professor at Istanbul Technical University and Xiaoxing Xi, a Chinese-born American Physicist and Former Chair of the Physics Department at Temple University Received the American Physical Society’s 2020 Andrei Sakharov Prize
Ayse Erzan was a signer of the Peace Petition in Turkey and wrongfully indicted. She has been involved in the peace and women’s movements. Upon notice of having received the reward Dr. Erzan commented that she felt the award was not really for her, but more for the struggles of the Academics for Peace. Dr. Erzan has been actively involved in assisting academics who have been, like herself, ... Continue Reading>>
European Union Awards Sakharov Prize to Uyghur Economist Ilham Tohti
On October 24, 2019 the European Union awarded its highest human rights award to Ilham Tohti - The 2019 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Tohti advocated greater autonomy for the Uyghurs of Xinjiang and was sentenced to life in prison in 2014 on “separatism” charges. The President of the European Parliament noted that since 2017 over 1 million Uyghurs have been detained in internment camps ... Continue Reading>>
CCS Co-Chair Pens an Op-Ed About Tashpolat Tiyip, Uighur Scholar Secretly Tried and Sentenced to Death in China
He was a world-famous Uighur academic, but China sentenced him to death anyway by Eugene Chudnovsky | October 14, 2019 03:39 PM Tashpolat Tiyip, president of Xinjiang University and one of China’s best-known geographers, was last seen at a Beijing airport in spring 2017 on his way to the opening of a research center in Germany. On that day he disappeared without a ... Continue Reading>>