On February 18, scientists and academics around the world initiated a petition calling for the conviction of Dr. Bülent Sik to be overturned. Dr. Sik, a food engineer who until 2016 worked with Turkey’s Ministry of Health while a professor at Akdeniz University, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for releasing findings of a study linking environmental factors and cancer cases. The petition ... Continue Reading>>
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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>>
Student Council President at Birzeit University Arrested, Not Charged
Israeli soldiers arrested Ms. Hassan on December 12th at her home. She has not been charged for any crime, but has been ordered held for three months on administration detention. ... Continue Reading>>
Australian-British Lecturer Describes Incarceration In Iran Through Series of Letters
Kylie Moore-Gilbert is an Australian-British lecturer on Islamic Studies at Melbourne University in Australia where she obtained her Ph.D. in 2017. She was arrested in Iran in September 2018 while conducting field research. She was subsequently sentenced to 10 years in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison on unknown charges that are rumored to be related to espionage. If true, she would be one of many ... Continue Reading>>
Tuna Altinel Acquitted of Charges at Final Hearing in Turkey
Tuna Altinel, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Lyon-1 University of France, has been acquitted of “membership in a terrorist organization” at his final hearing. Altinel had been found not guilty in a previous hearing, but when he went to inquire about the status of his passport he was re-arrested due to charges imposed by the prosecutor. No travel ban has been issued to Altinel, but his ... Continue Reading>>
Espionage Charges Dropped Against French-Iranian Scholar
One of the charges against Fariba Adelkhah, a French-Iranian researcher in Anthropology and Social Sciences, was dismissed - that of Espionage. Dr. Adelkhah was arrested in June 2019 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps for spying. They have also, according to her attorney, dismissed the charge “of disturbing the public order.” However, there are still two remaining charges - “spreading ... Continue Reading>>
Cambridge Student Detained in South Sudan Pardoned and Released
Peter Biar Ajak, a Ph.D. student who was critical of his country’s government was arrested in July 2018 in South Sudan. He was sentenced to two years in prison. Mr. Ajak was one of the country’s “Lost Boys” who was resettled in America and had studied at Lasalle University in Philadelphia, then Harvard and then Cambridge. He returned to Sudan in July 2018 to participate in a youth conference ... Continue Reading>>
Ugandan Academic/Writer/Feminist Receives Award While Imprisoned
Dr. Stella Nyanzi, Ugandan academic, writer and feminist activist was awarded the Oxfam Novib/PEN International award for Freedom of Expression. Dr. Nyanzi remains in Luzira Women's Prison in Kampala, where she has been for the past 15 months for criticizing the President and his mother through her poetry. At the award ceremony, held in the Hague, an empty chair was used to symbolize her ... Continue Reading>>
Committee of Concerned Scientists’ Co-Chair Highlights Egregious Treatment Received by Female Scholars Behind Prison Walls in Iran
Greek Statistician Still Being Tried for Accurately Assessing Greece’s Budget Deficits
Andreas Georgiou, a well-respected economist and statistician, and former president of the Hellenic Statistical Authority, continues to be harassed and prosecuted for publishing, by all accounts, an accurate assessment of the Greek budget deficits. He has been tried multiple times, found innocent of the charges, or the charges were thrown out but another charge continued to be filed. ... Continue Reading>>