Endangered Scholars Worldwide

Abstract

Endangered Scholars Worldwide GOOD NEWS We are delighted to announce some good news: ► m o h a m m e d m a l e c k i and k i a n t a j b a k s h , Iranian scholars who were featured in our Summer 2009 issue, have been recently released on bail from Evin prison in Tehran, b i j a n k h a j e p o u r , also featured in the Summer 2009 issue, was released in Fall 2009. ►On January 19,2010, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rescinded the ban prohibiting scholars a d a m h a b i b and t a r iq .Ra m a d a n from traveling to the United States. In all these cases we believe international support was crucial to the success of their campaigns for justice. CURRENT CASES CAMEROON On Septem ber 3, 2009, j u s t i c e m . m b u h , a lecturer at th e N ational Polytechnic Bam bui in Bam enda, Cam eroon, was arrested on charges o f “treason.” The charges appear to be based on docum ents found in his possession relating to th e independence o f th e A m bazonia region o f C am eroon (form erly British Southern Cameroon). Justice is a specialist in C am eroonian politics and has published a num ber of books, including Inside Contemporary Cameroun Politics (2005) and International Law and Conflicts: Resolving Border and Sovereignty Disputes in Africa (2004). He rem ains in prison aw aiting sentence. Please send appeals to: Information current, to the best ofour knowledge, as ofMarch 25, 2010. Endangered Scholars W orldw ide v His Excellency Paul Biya President ofthe Republic of Cameroon Yaounde, Cameroon Fax: (237) 22 20 33 06 Email: cellcom@prc.cm Salutation: Your Excellency IRAN In spite of the recent releases of m o h a m m e d m a l e c ic i and k i a n t a j b a k s h , the situation for students and scholars in Iran has worsened in recent m onths. A general clim ate of fear has intensified w ith the m urder by car bomb of physics professor m a s o u d a l i m o h a m m a d i on January 12, 2010; the continuing unw arranted arrests of many citizens; and the threatening comments, on March 4, 2010, by Iranian Minister of Science Kamran Daneshjoo, that professors critical of the regime would be expelled from their posts. On December 28, 2009, e m a d e d d i n b a g h i (featured in our Spring 2008 issue) was rearrested, along w ith hundreds of people suspected of being pro-reform, following wide­ spread protests in Tehran and other cities m arking the Shi’a religious observance ofAshoura. Also arrested was d r . n o o s h i n e b a d i , a profes­ sor of m edicine and the sister of Nobel Prize-winning reform activist s h i r i n e b a d i . They join countless students and activists who are still languishing in prison in the wake of the waves of arrests that followed the contested election last June. Among them is student leader m a j i d t a v a k k o i i , who was arrested December 7, 2009, after giving a speech at Amir Kamir University. Majid, who had previously spent 15 m onths in jail for his student activism, was sentenced in January to eight and half years in prison. His charges include insulting the Supreme Leader, insulting the president, and spreading propaganda against the regime. Amnesty International has warned that he, along w ith all other impris­ oned activists in Iran, is at risk of torture. Scholars featured in previous issues who rem ain in prison in Iran include: s a e e d l a y l a z , a professor of economics sentenced in December 2009 to nine years in prison (reduced to six...