Since May 1997, interventions by the Human Rights Watch Academic Freedom Committee have
included the following (interventions are listed in reverse chronological order):
Serbia (8/10/98)
[Yugoslavia] |
Protested a new Serbian law depriving faculty members throughout Serbia of their long-held right to participate in the selection of rectors, faculty deans, and governing boards, and effectively cancelling - subject to re-negotiation - the contracts of all professors and other teaching staff.
|
| Ethiopia (7/29/98) |
Called for the release of Eritrean exchange students who had been detained at a military base since the outbreak of armed hostilities between Ethiopia and Eritrea. |
| Jordan (7/10/98) |
Protested book censorship provisions of a draft press and publications law. |
| China (6/18/98) |
Urged U.S. President Clinton to speak out in support of academic and political freedom during his visits to university campuses in China. |
| Indonesia (5/27/98) |
Urged the new government to dismantle mechanisms of centralized government control over academic life implemented during President Soeharto's New Order rule. |
| Indonesia (2/13/98) |
Protested formal government warning given to academics and researchers who publicly expressed political views. |
| Malaysia (12/3/97) |
Protested decrees restricting public release of scientific studies on the health consequences of the air pollution and dense haze that were blanketing much of the country. |
| Iran (11/26/97) |
Called on the government to protect Dr. Abdol Karim Soroush, a leading scholar and critic of the Iranian religious establishment, who had been attacked by a Hezbollah mob just outside the gates of Amir Kabir University where he had been invited to lecture. |
| Cuba (9/8/97) |
Called for the immediate and unconditional release of independent researchers arrrested for peaceful expression of opposition to the Castro government. |
| Iran (7/22/97) |
Protested ongoing harassment and assaults on the basic civil and political rights of Dr. Soroush. |
| Kenya (7/17/97) |
Protested the Kenyan Government's repeated use of excessive use of force against student protestors and called for a full investigation of four student deaths. |
Palestinian Authority (7/16/97)
[Israel-Occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip] |
Requested an explanation for the detention of Dr. Ahmed Subuh, an education professor held for over four months after he alleged corruption in government and university administration; called for Dr. Subuh's immediate release in the absence of evidence of criminal wrongdoing. |
| Panama (7/8/97) |
Urged National University of Panama rector to drop disciplinary proceedings against Professors Bernal and Ardil, who were threatened with expulsion for having criticized the governemnt and
publicly alleged that university administrative practices were marred by graft and corruption. |
| Tunisia (7/7/97) |
Protested government harassment of mathematician Dr. Ben Salem, who has been living under virtual house arrest since 1993 and has been forbidden even to go to the university to retrieve his books and papers. |
| Congo/Zaire (7/3/97) |
Deplored the use of torture and threats of violence to intimidate and subdue student protestors. |
| Tunisia (6/9/97) |
Protested government denial of passport to Dr. Marzouki, a professor of Neurology and Preventive Medicine at the University of Sousse and past president of the Tunisian League for Human Rights. |
| Republic of Korea (5/29) |
Called for recognition of the Teachers and Education Workers Union and reinstatement of all teachers dismissed for participating in the union. |
| Egypt (5/19/97) |
Urged the release of Dr. al-Ahwany, a Cairo University engineering professor who had been arrested and held in a Cairo prison without a hearing for photocopying a paper critical of a controversial provision of an Egyptian agrarian reform law. |
