In the aftermath of the attempted coup in 2016, many universities in Turkey were closed leaving staff with no jobs and students with no available schooling. Many staff members of these schools were charged for “supporting a terrorist organization." Meliksah University was one of those involved. On August 15, 2016 arrest warrants were issued for 100 members of their staff. Sixty-three were detained ... Continue Reading>>
Our Work
Lecturer at Rift Valley University in Ethiopia Arrested for Assistance in Writing Book Critical of the Ethiopian Government
Dr. Firew Bekele has been charged under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation accused of writing a book critical of the government. Bekele denies writing it but acknowledges helping with writing it. Being detained in this regard is a violation of his human rights to free expression and speech. CCS has written to the new Prime Minister of Ethiopia, and recent winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, ... Continue Reading>>
Iranian Students Entering US for School Year Turned Away
Many Iranian students who had been accepted to US universities for the school year were turned away by Homeland Security when they arrived at airports to travel to the US for school for this current year. [gview file="https://concernedscientists.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/IranianStudentEntryDenialsDRAFT-1.docx"] ... 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>>
Pakistan Academic Still Incarcerated for Blasphemy for the Past Five Years
Junaid Hafeez has been confined in solitary confinement for the past 5 years on a charge of blasphemy for posting he made on Facebook. He is in danger while confined - so much so that his first attorney was murdered for defending him, threatened by the prosecutor of the case. The case has been continued and transferred from one court to another for the past five years. CCS has written the ... Continue Reading>>
Former Rector of Canik Basari University Awaiting Trial in Turkey
Yunus Bekdemir was the former founder of Canik Başarı (Success or Achievement) University and arrested for “membership of an armed terrorist organization” and “opposition to the law on the prevention of financing of terrorism” on September 23, 2016. His university was closed as one of the 15 universities that were closed after the failed coup. At the Samsun 3rd Peace Court of Criminal Jurisdiction ... Continue Reading>>
Take Action To Free Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali (Iran) and Dr. Tashpolat Tiyip (In China) From Execution
Please sign the petitions provided by Scholars at Risk for World Day Against the Death Penalty in support of Dr. Djalali and Dr. Tiyip who are currently imprisoned in Iran and China, respectively, sentenced to be executed for false charges. CCS has written to support both of these gentlemen previously (can be found on this website). Dr. Djalali is a professor of disaster medicine and was arrested ... Continue Reading>>
Writer’s Hearing To Take Place Two Years After Arrest for Giving Speech Critical of Turkish Government
Writer, Temel Demirer, was arrested in July 2017 for giving a speech that was critical of the government. For the past 27 months he has been subjected to a travel ban and faces criminal charges. His next hearing is Tuesday, October 15, 2019. CCS has written the Minister of Justice requesting his release as he has a right to freedom of speech and expression. [gview ... Continue Reading>>
Renowned Russian Scientist Released from Prison With Advanced Stage Cancer
CCS suggests possible violation of Magnitsky Act in regard to the case of Victor Kudryavtsev, a renowned rocket scientist in Russia’s aerospace program. He was arrested and held in pre-trial detention as a spy but was recently released from prison in Russia when it was found that he had advanced stage lung cancer. Although the prosecution found no evidence of any crime committed by Kudryavtsev, ... Continue Reading>>
British-Australian Lecturer Has Been Held in Iranian Prison for Past Year Convicted of Espionage
Dr. Kylie Moore-Gilbert, lecturer at the University of Melbourne’s Asia Studies Institute, was arrested in Iran and charged with espionage. She has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. This week it was revealed that a British-Australian academic who had been teaching at the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute in Australia was arrested in Iran in October of 2018 , tried allegedly for ... Continue Reading>>