Alerts & Campaigns
SAR alerts invite individuals to take timely action on behalf of a threatened scholar or in response to a wider incident, generally by sending letters, faxes, emails or making calls to media, policymakers and other key stakeholders.
We are currently updating our alert and campaign functions. Please check back later for more information, or contact SAR if you would be interested in volunteering to help with these activities in the network office or remotely.
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From: Scholars at Risk and the Network for Education and Academic Rights
Re: SAR and NEAR call for urgent action on behalf of detained professor Mehdi Zakerian of Iran
Date: September 5, 2008
Scholars at Risk and the Network for Education and Academic Rights express grave concern about the apparent detention of Dr. Mehdi Zakerian, a prominent scholar of international relations and international law, and an Assistant Professor at Islamic Azad University in Tehran.
Scholars at Risk (SAR) is an international network of universities and colleges dedicated to promoting academic freedom and defending the human rights of scholars worldwide. The Network for Education and Academic Rights (NEAR) facilitates the rapid global transfer of accurate information in response to breaches of academic freedom and human rights in education. In especially serious cases, SAR and NEAR intervene on behalf of detained scholars like Professor Zakerian.
Dr. Zakerian, a scholar of international law and international human rights, holds a Ph.D. in international relations from Islamic Azad University. With over ten years of experience teaching international and Islamic human rights, and with over fifty publications to his name, he has held lectureships at prominent Iranian universities and was recently appointed Chair of the International Studies Association of Iran.
SAR and NEAR understand that Dr. Zakerian was detained on or around August 15, 2008 and that he has been held for over two weeks at a Ministry of Intelligence detention center. According to Iranian news reports, there has been no statement of any charges against him nor has there been any information issued regarding his current location and condition. We also understand that Dr. Zakerian was dismissed from his university position in September 2007 without explanation.
Given these understandings—his dismissal, sudden detention without charge, and lack of information about his current condition—we are gravely concerned about Dr. Zakerian’s well being. We join with the many national and international academic associations and institutions, scholarly societies, human rights organizations and individual scholars in imploring the authorities to examine the circumstances of his detention and to work for his immediate release. In the interim, we respectfully request that the authorities provide information about Dr. Zakerian’s current location and condition as well as any charges against him, and ensure that he has immediate access to legal counsel, to family and to any necessary medical treatment.
We also wish to express, beyond our immediate concerns for Dr. Zakerian, our grave concern that Dr. Zakerian’s detention suggests further limitation on academic freedom and the ability of established intellectuals safely to teach and conduct research in Iran—a suggestion we find particularly distressing and unfortunate given Iran’s rich intellectual history and traditional support for the values of scholarship and free inquiry. We find this even more distressing given the current tensions in the region and the world, which appear to warrant more rather than fewer exchanges among scholars. We encourage the authorities to use the current concerns raised by Dr. Zakerian’s detention as an opportunity to reaffirm Iran’s commitment to academic freedom, scholarship and the sharing of knowledge and ideas.
Scholars at Risk invites letters, emails and faxes be sent:
-respectfully calling on the authorities to provide information about Prof. Zakerian's current location and condition;
-respectfully calling on the authorities to explain publicly the reasons for Prof. Zakerian’s arrest and requesting assistance in securing his timely release;
-respectfully seeking assurances of Prof. Zakerian’s well-being while he is in custody, including ensuring immediate access to legal counsel, to family and to any necessary medical treatment;
-respectfully reminding authorities that academic freedom and freedom of expression are essential to achieving the government’s stated goals of international cooperation and intellectual excellence in pursuit of a leadership role in international higher education.
PLEASE WRITE TO:
H. E. Mr. Mohammad Khazaee
Ambassador of Iran to the United Nations
Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
622 Third Ave., 34th floor
New York, NY 10017
USA
H. E. Mr. Rasoul Movahedian
Ambassador of Iran to the United Kingdon
Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran
16 Prince's Gate
London SW7 1PT
UK
COPIES TO:
H. E. Mr. Mohammad Reza Majidi
Permanent Delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran to UNESCO
Maison de l'UNESCO
1, rue Miollis
75732 PARIS
FRANCE
The Honorable Ms. Navanethem Pillay
High Commissioner for Human Rights
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Scholars at Risk
c/o New York University
194 Mercer Street, Room 410
New York, NY 10012
USA
Jonathan Travis
Program Officer
Network for Education and Academic Rights
London South Bank University
90 London Road
SE1 9LN
London, UK
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