Ahmet Metin Sekizkardes, a former journalist and professor of Fatih University was arrested in July 2016 on charges of being a member of an armed terrorist organization. He was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison and is still confined. The charges appear to be unsubstantiated. Fatih was one of the top private universities in Turkey and closed by the government after the failed coup ... Continue Reading>>
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Former Rector of Turgut Ozal University Still In Jail After Three Years
Abdulkadir Sengun was the Rector and Professor of Turgut Ozal University. He was arrested following the July 16 attempted coup and charged with being a member of an armed terrorist organization. He was sentenced to more than eight years in prison. Turgut Ozal University was one of the schools that the current Turkish administration closed. His relationship to the school seems to be the basis for ... Continue Reading>>
UN High Commissioner on Human Rights Responds to CCS Letter Supporting Junaid Hafeez
The Committee of Concerned Scientists wrote the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights concerning the egregious case of Junaid Hafeez and his sentence to death for blasphemy in Pakistan. The News Release that was issued by the OHCHR is below. Pakistan blasphemy death sentence for Junaid Hafeez is “travesty of justice”- UN experts GENEVA (27 December 2019) – UN human rights ... Continue Reading>>
Two Female Inmates in Evin Prison Start Christmas Eve Hunger Strike
On Christmas Eve Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert and Iranian-born, French academic, Fariba Adelkhah began a hunger strike for freedom for all researchers and political prisoners in Iran who have been unjustly imprisoned on fake charges. It has been suggested that academics worldwide write or go to Iranian Embassies in their countries and demand release of Fariba Adelkhah and Kylie ... Continue Reading>>
Hafeez Sentenced to Death for Blasphemy Charge
A gifted scholar was arrested for Blasphemy in Pakistan and spent six years in jail awaiting trial. His first attorney was threatened in open court by the prosecutor, saying he would not live for the next hearing. Shortly, thereafter, an assassin entered his office and killed him. Following the murder, getting a new attorney to take the case was difficult, and getting a judge to hear the case ... Continue Reading>>
Serkan Golge and Ismail Kul Released But Still Not Home
Two American academics that were released from prison in Turkey, after being imprisoned for charges they did not commit, are still not allowed to depart Turkey to return home. Serkan Golge, a former NASA scientist, and Ismail Kul, a professor at Widener College in Pennsylvania, have been released from prison but Turkish officials continue to withhold their passports and require them to report to ... Continue Reading>>
Professor Charged with Blasphemy Finally Goes To Court Today After Years in Solitary
Junaid Hafeez, a former lecturer and MPhil candidate in the English Literature Department of Bahauddin Zakariya University in Multan, Pakistan has been held in pre-trial detention for over six years charged with Blasphemy. His trial has been re-scheduled over and over. His attorney was murdered after being threatened in court by the prosecutor and his trial has been moved from one judge to another ... Continue Reading>>
US/Iran Swap Prisoners – Academic and Scientist Free’d
Thanks to the work of the Swiss Embassy, the American State Department and the Administrations of the United States and Iran, Xiyue Wang, a researcher and history student at Princeton who was arrested in 2016 and sentenced to 10 years in prison in Iran for espionage (charges which he has always denied) and Professor Massoud Soleimani, an Iranian scientist convicted of violating U.S. sanctions 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>>
Founder of Turkey and Middle East Forum Foundation Acquitted of Charge of “Propagandizing for A Terrorist Oganization” in Turkish Court
Fikret Baskaya had been detained and charged with “propagandizing for a terrorist organization” due to an article he wrote three years ago. In his third hearing before the Ankara 21st Heavy Penal Court on November 22nd he was acquitted and released. Prior to the trial CCS wrote to the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan requesting a review of Dr. Baskaya’s case and his immediate release. ... Continue Reading>>