Editorial Note by the Editor in Chief of the Cambridge Core: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/prehospital-and-disaster-medicine/article/ahmadreza-djalali-md-phd-is-dying/D655A93377D6225ADEFA229E74831644/core-reader ... Continue Reading>>
International Astronomy Olympiad Winner Jailed in Iran
Ali Younesi, a Computer Science Student at Sharif Industrial University in Tehran was arrested for unknown reasons on April 10th along with award winning Physics student, Amir-Hossein Moradi. CCS has written the Chief Justice of Iran inquiring of their charge and current status. A group of Nobel prize winners has also written to The United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights to address ... 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>>
Former Professor of Fatih University Sentenced to 9 Years In Prison – Still in Jail
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>>
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>>