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 ... 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>>
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>>
Former President of Xinjiang University Sentenced to Possible Execution for Separatism
Dr. Tashpolat Tiyip, former President of Xinjiang University has been tried and sentenced for separatism. Sentence was for a deferred execution. Dr. Tiyip is an internationally renowned geographer. ... Continue Reading>>
Chinese Born US Citizen and Student at Princeton University Still Detained in Evin Prison in Iran
Xiyue Wang, a graduate student at Princeton University, has now been incarcerated in Iran’s Evin prison for over three years. He was jailed in 2016, convicted of spying and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was in Iran conducting pre-approved research on his Ph.D. dissertation when he was apprehended. CCS is writing the President of the People’s Republic of China requesting his assistance in ... Continue Reading>>
BAD NEWS: Academics Silenced Due to Repression in Turkey
After taking positions on political issues in Turkey, many academics were terminated from their positions on University campuses with large numbers of them being criminally charged and sentenced. Many, who were able, left Turkey and others remained silent. The effect on advanced education in Turkey has been disastrous. Turkey’s Crackdown on Academics Represses History Once Again ... Continue Reading>>
Another Academic for Peace Sentenced to 2 Years, 1 Month in Prison
Ayşe Gül Altınay, an anthropology professor from Sabancı University was sentenced to 2 years and 1 month in prison on May 21, 2019. She is being charged with "knowingly and willingly aiding a terrorist organization as a non-member" for having signed a petition in 2016 protesting human rights violations in Southeastern Turkey (the Peace Petition). Her sentence is being appealed. To this day, 193 ... Continue Reading>>
Ahmadreza Djalali, Physician Confined in Prison in Iran Sentenced for Spying, Seriously Ill and in Need of Urgent Medical Care
Dr. Djalali was sentenced to death in Iran. He is now very seriously ill. He desperately needs to be transferred to a hospital for care and possible surgery. He received surgery earlier in the year but the day following surgery he was transferred back to prison where he never received follow-up nor recuperative care. 100 Nobel Laureates have appealed for his case. CCS wrote a letter ... Continue Reading>>
The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute and the Anti-Torture Initiative Sent a Joint Open Letter to the President of Turkey Condemning Criminal Proceedings Against Dr. Fincanci as Well as the Conviction/Sentence
Dr. Sebnem Korur Fincanci, President of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, a world renowned expert on torture and co-author of the Istanbul Protocol (guidelines setting international standards for forensic investigations of torture) was criminally charged for signing the Academics for Peace petition and sentenced to two and a half years in prison, almost twice the amount of time given to the ... Continue Reading>>