CCS also welcomed the release of Professor Emadeddin Baghi, who was released after serving two concurrent one-year jail sentences for "propaganda against the state”. One related to his founding of the Association to Defend Prisoners' Rights and the other to an interview broadcast by the BBC together with the late government critic Grand Ayatollah Hosseinali-Monatazeri. ... Continue Reading>>
Our Work
Belarusian Professor sentenced to probation
Aleksandr Feduta, a EHU (European Humanities University) lecturer and journalist, was arrested with hundreds of other opposition activists, including 11 EHU students, in the aftermath of the contested Belarusian presidential election on 19 December 2010. ... Continue Reading>>
Acquitted Colombian professor to resume teaching
Miguel Ángel Beltrán Villegas, the Colombian professor who was arrested in Mexico in 2009 and acquitted on Friday of accusations of being a member of the FARC, announced Wednesday he will resume teaching. A city judge decided Friday that Beltrán would be allowed to go free, "given the inconsistencies (of the evidence)," ... Continue Reading>>
Scholar Imprisoned in Belarus
CCS wrote a letter to the President of Belarus, protesting the imprisonment of Alyaksandr Fyaduta, a scholar and journalist. Read the letter: ... Continue Reading>>
CCS Requests a Fair Trial for Colombian Sociology Professor
Dr. Miguel Angel Beltran Villegas, an Associate Professor of Sociology at the Universidad National de Colombia, was arrested in May 2009 on terrorism charges. Academic colleagues in Colombia and abroad believe that Dr. Villegas is a serious researcher of politics and social conflict in Colombia and that the allegations are being made in retaliation for his criticism of the government. They also ... Continue Reading>>
Health Professionals in Bahrain: Arrested and Disappeared
CCS wrote to the Prime Minister of Bahrain to protest the treatment of health professionals in Bahrain. Following their ethical duty to treat protesters, nurses and doctors have been arrested and disappeared. ... Continue Reading>>
French-Algerian Physicist in Preventive Detention in France Since 2009
Adlène Hicheur, a high-energy physicist who has worked on the world’s largest particle collider, has been held in a French prison under suspicion of terrorism for more than a year. CCS wrote a letter to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, urging him to investigate the circumstances of Dr. Hicheur’s detention. ... Continue Reading>>
Good News for Dr. Binayak Sen
The Supreme Court of India granted bail in April, 2011 to Dr. Binayak Sen, observing that no case of sedition was made out against the human rights activist, who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court in Chhattisgarh State. CCS had advocated on behalf of Dr. Sen, who had set up clinics for impoverished and minority people in his province. ... Continue Reading>>
Dr. Nasser bin Ghaith is Held in Dubai without Charges
CCS wrote to the Government of the United Arab Emirates to protest the detention of Dr. Nasser bin Ghaith, a scholar and lecturer in Economics. Read the letter ... Continue Reading>>
Yakov Alpert, 1911-2010
Yakov Alpert, a pioneer in serveral fields of radio and space plasma physics, died on October 17, 2010 in Boston at the age of 99. Alpert participated in Sputnik I and many other Soviet satellite projects in the 1960s and 1970s. He became a Russian refusenik when he applied for an exit visa in 1975. Like all dissident scientists in the U.S.S.R., he lost his job and the right to work in his ... Continue Reading>>