Scholars at Risk (SAR) members, staff and scholars assisted by the network frequently appear at conferences and other events, and are regularly featured in print, radio, and television reports. The following are past reports about the Network and assisted scholars.
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05/24/2009
University World News
GLOBAL: Higher education world conference
The World Conference on Higher Education will be held in July at Unesco headquarters in Paris on the theme of The New Dynamics of Higher Education. It follows the 1998 World Conference, which was important for recognising higher education as a key factor in the progression of nations and their people, for sustainable development and for human rights as well as for democracy, peace and justice.
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05/08/2009
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Embattled President of the New School Says He Will Step Down in 2 Years
Bob Kerrey, president of the New School, said on Thursday that he will step down when his current term expires, in July 2011. Mr. Kerrey, a former Nebraska governor and U.S. senator, has become a lightning rod for disputes and protests at the New York institution.
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04/23/2009
NEAR
"Academic Freedom and Autonomy in West African Universities" Accra, Ghana, April 15-16, 2009
A symposium and workshop on Academic Freedom and University Autonomy in West African Universities was held at the University of Ghana on April 15-16, 2009. The event was co-hosted by Scholars at Risk, the University of Ghana, the Council for the Development of Social Science Rearch in Africa (CODESRIA), the West African Research Centre (WARC) and the Network for Education and Academic Rights (NEAR), with generous support from the Open Society Institute (OSI).
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03/10/2009
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Protecting Freedom of Ideas Around the Globe
Robert Quinn, founding director of the Scholars at Risk Network, will speak on "Protecting Freedom of Ideas Around the Globe" at 7 p.m. today at the University of the Ozarks' Walton Fine Arts Center in Clarksville.
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01/19/2009
Inside Higher Education
Making Human Rights More Scientific
WASHINGTON — Ask a group of scientists — heck, ask any group of people — if they’re concerned about human rights, and you’ll get few if any dissenters. After all, it’s a hard thing not to care about. But it might be a little less clear why scientists, or any professionals, need a formal group to actively involve themselves in human rights issues. Isn’t that a role best left to humanitarian groups?
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12/12/2008
The Harvard Crimson
Harvard Shelters Eastern Scholar
Matkasim Beydulla’s July 2005 wedding was relatively traditional.
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11/30/2008
University World News
ETHIOPIA: Academic freedom in East African universities
The Network for Education and Academic Rights (NEAR) and the Scholars at Risk (SAR) Network held a conference and workshop on academic freedom in Ethiopia last month. The event was organised in partnership with the Forum for Social Studies, the Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa and the British Council. Faculty members and researchers from 13 countries participated, including Ethiopia, Ghana, Jordan, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Ukraine, UK and the US.
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11/27/2008
Universitas
Opening up for academic refugees
On Tuesday, University Director Gunn-Elin Aa. Bjřrneboe received unanimous support from the university board for the proposal that the University of Oslo (UiO) should welcome a new academic refugee every other year. In addition to this, the university director requests a consideration of whether scholars who are staying in Norway as refugees should be given access to academic environments at UiO.
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11/24/2008
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Middle-East Scholars Hear of Academic Repression in Iraq and Iran
Faculty members and students in Iraq and Iran continue to face a severely repressive climate, two exiled scholars said Saturday during a panel discussion held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association. The scholars called on faculty associations around the world to do more to promote academic freedom in the Middle East.
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09/01/2008
The Netork of Concerned Historians
Network of Concerned Historians Annual Report
INTRODUCTION
The Network of Concerned Historians (NCH) forwards to its participants news about the domain where history and human rights intersect, as reported by the American Association for the Advancement of Science [AAAS, Washington], Amnesty International [AI, London], Article 19 [A19, London], Human Rights Watch [HRW, Washington/New York], Index on Censorship [IOC, London], the Network of Education and Academic Rights [NEAR, London], International PEN Writers in Prison Committee [PEN, London], Scholars at Risk [SAR, New York], and other sources. It reports about the censorship of history, the persecution of historians around the globe, and related topics. The fact that NCH presents this news does not imply that it shares the views and beliefs of the historians and others mentioned in it.
This Annual Report and previous Annual Reports were compiled by Antoon De Baets and revised by Ingrid Sennema.
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06/29/2008
University World News
Call for worldwide defence of academic freedom
Academic freedom worldwide must be strengthened through a better defence of core university values and greater solidarity within higher education communities. This was the conclusion from a conference organised by the New York-based Scholars at Risk organisation at the European Humanities University in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.
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05/07/2008
NEAR
Academic Freedom Workshop, Amman, Jordan, March 31, 2008
Scholars at Risk (SAR) and the Network for Education and Academic Rights (NEAR) held the first in a series of workshops on academic freedom in Amman, Jordan on March 31st, 2008. The workshop took place on the second day of a three day event organized in partnership with the Amman Center for Human Rights Studies (ACHRS) and hosted by the United Nations University (UNU) in Amman under the patronage of the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Jordan.
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04/25/2008
Flyp
Harbor From the Storm
Scholars at Risk provides refuge for academics fleeing their countries for the crime of having spoken their minds.
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02/01/2008
The Brown Daily Herald
Seventeen international scholars visit Watson Institute
The Watson Institute for International Studies is welcoming 17 new visitors-in-residence to Brown this semester who will participate in a variety of programs.
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09/26/2007
UNCG University News
UNCG Among Two N.C. Universities to Join Scholars at Risk
It’s all too easy to forget that the rights Americans enjoy – including rights to free speech and academic freedom – don’t always exist in other nations.
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05/01/2007
Academe
Refuge for Academic Outcasts
Academe features an article by Robert Quinn, the director of Scholars at Risk, about the efforts of the SAR Network to assist threatened academics.
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04/04/2007
The California Aggie
Human Rights, academic symposium to be held
The California Aggie features an article that details the upcoming SAR Network Symposium at the University of San Francisco.
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11/15/2006
Houston Chronicle
Dimming the Future
The Houston Chronicle features an article on the challenges facing Iraqi academics. Robert Quinn, director of Scholars at Risk is quoted.
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11/14/2006
Science
Kidnappers Strike Iraqi Science
Science features an article about the difficulties facing Iraqi scientists. The article describes the letter writing campaign launched by SAR urging authorities to improve security conditions for higher education communities in Iraq.
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09/15/2006
Times Higher Education Supplement
Give refugees a hand
The Times Higher Education Supplement (UK) features a letter to the editor about the CARA/SAR UK Universities Network by CARA director John Akker.
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03/21/2006
The Guardian (UK)
Welcome Players
The Guardian (UK) features an article about the newly launched CARA-SAR UK Network working to assist threatened and refugee scholars in the UK. NYU President John Sexton's lecture at the event is highlighted.
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02/26/2006
The Ohio Plain Dealer
Escape from Persecution Brings Prof to Ohio
The Ohio Plain Dealer features an article about a SAR/SRF scholar from Rwanda hosted by Kent State University.
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01/23/2006
NYU Today
Alumnus Albert Podell Makes $1 Million Reunion Year Gift to School of Law
NYU Today features article announcing $1 million gift to the NYU School of Law to establish the Albert Podell Global Scholar at Risk Fund.
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11/25/2005
The Chronicle Of Higher Education
Group that Aids Oppressed Scholars Says It Will Expand
The Chronicle of Higher Education features an article about the creation of UK Network of universities launched under the auspices of SAR and the Council for Assisting Refugee Academimcs (CARA).
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11/11/2005
The Times Higher Education Supplement
Plea for UK Academic Sector to Give Safe Haven to Colleagues
The Times for Higher Education Supplement features an article on the SAR-CARA effort to establish network of UK universities to assist threatened and refugee scholars.
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09/01/2004
International Higher Education
Academic Freedom and the Promise of International Higher Education
The International Higher Education features an article written by SAR staff Rob Quinn and Carla Stuart about the importance of building cross-cultural dialogue to protect and promote academic freedom.
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10/22/2002
Chicago Maroon
Former University fellow jailed for political protest in Singapore
Authorities in Singapore have jailed a former University fellow for the third time for violating a law that bans unlicensed public speech.
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03/28/2002
The University of Chicago Chronicle
Human Rights Program will sponsor April conference, welcome noted international activist Cuellar in May
Announcement of the Human Rights Program's one-day conference on Civil Society and the Practice of Human Rights (Saturday, April 13, 2002)
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03/14/2002
Chronicle of Higher Education (Online)
Organization That Aids Persecuted Scholars Sets Up Grant Fund for Sponsoring Colleges
An article about the establishment of the Institute of International Education's Scholar Rescue Fund in partnership with the Scholars at Risk Network.
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03/11/2002
Chicago Tribune
Fostering a cross-pollination of ideas is well worth the Risk
An article about the Scholars at Risk Network at the University of Chicago -- about the history of academic freedom, the beginnings of the Network at Chicago, and the recent announcement of the Institute of International Education (IIE) partnership to create the Scholar Rescue Fund.
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06/23/2000
Chronicle of Higher Education
A safe haven for scholars in repressive countries
The Chronicle of Higher Education features an article about the formation of the Scholars at Risk Network. Robert Quinn, the Network' s director, speaks about the importance of providing sanctuary for threatened scholars.
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02/11/2009
The Suffolk Journal
Former Iraqi Education Minister teaches at Suffolk
An Iraqi visiting scholar whose life was transformed by the War in Iraq expects to leave Suffolk at the end of the semester.
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02/10/2009
The New York Times
On Trail of War Criminals, NBC News Is Criticized
NBC News, which teamed up with local police officers to trap sex offenders for its successful but scandalous “To Catch a Predator” series, is now using similar tactics to hunt bigger game: war criminals.
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02/03/2009
Inside Higher Education
Professor Accused of Genocide
Goucher College has suspended a visiting French professor from teaching after the Baltimore institution was presented with charges that he was directly involved in the 1994 genocide in his home country of Rwanda. While some view the charges as credible — he strongly denies them — some human rights officials are dubious, wondering if the professor is really in trouble back home over controversial statements he made questioning whether what took place in Rwanda was a genocide.
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07/06/2008
University World News
Zimbabwe: 'Draconian' new higher education law
A new law governing higher education institutions in Zimbabwe, soon to become operational, has been dismissed by critics as draconian. Minister for Higher and Tertiary Education Stan Mudenge announced that the government was in the process of appointing a nine-member board that will exert control over institutions under the legislation - the Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education Act.
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06/29/2008
Reuters
Saudi wife calls for reformer's release
RIYADH, June 29 (Reuters) - When Jamila al-Ukla's husband was taken by Saudi state security forces last month, she spent five days searching before finding him in prison, she says.
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06/06/2008
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Political-Science Association Rallies Behind Saudi Professor
The American Political Science Association has appealed to the government of Saudi Arabia to release Matrouk al-Faleh, a political scientist and one of the country’s leading human-rights activists, who was arrested in Riyadh on May 19.
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04/18/2008
The Miami Student
Uzbekistan lecture addresses civil injustice
Guest lecturer Nozima Kamalova spoke on the civil rights injustices in her native country of Uzbekistan Wednesday afternoon in Harrison Hall at Miami University. During her talk, she focused primarily on how personal liberty and personal security are balanced in a modern world.
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03/18/2008
The Harvard Crimson
A Professor Without a University
Former Baghdad University dean seeks to shed light on Scheherazade through Shakespeare
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03/03/2008
The Daily Courier
Lecture focuses on Rwandan genocide
Dr. Jean-Marie Kamatali, former dean of the law school at the National University of Rwanda, will discuss "Back Together Again: The Challenge of Post-Conflict and Post-Dictatorship Societies" from 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday in the Davis Learning Center auditorium at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
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02/22/2008
Open Source
Iraq in the Long View: Benham Abu Al-Souf
Listen to the archeologist Behnam Abu Al-Souf long enough, and you’ll be hearing the Iraqi uncle you never knew you had. Dr. Ben as I call him is a great bear of muscular, hands-on scholarship. For half a century he has been an eminence in the excavation and preservation of neolithic Northern Iraq. By now he is a sort of Father Time from Mesopotamia, a man with ten or fifteen thousand years of historical memory in his head, about the land for which archeology was invented. He is at Brown this winter, a “scholar at risk.” And we have been having this long, free-ranging conversation about the recent and ancient past of Iraq, about the Baghdad he finally escaped (”I came out of Hell”), and sometimes about the future of his country.
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02/19/2008
Human Rights Watch
Burma: Arrest of Journalists Highlights Junta's Intolerance
(New York, February 19, 2008) � The Burmese government�s arrest of two journalists and its decision to extend the detention of a prominent opposition leader demonstrate its continuing contempt for political freedoms despite its preparations for a constitutional referendum in May, Human Rights Watch said today.
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02/18/2008
Iran Press Service
The Fight for Iran's Freedoms
NEWSWEEK
Feb 18, 2008 Issue
It is easy to criticize U.S. policy toward the Middle East today: Washington's militaristic approach has contributed to the growth of fundamentalism and helped strengthen dictatorial regimes. Still, Iran's fundamentalist rulers often use such criticism as a way of disguising their own ineptitude and their responsibility for Iran's deplorable conditions— including the suppression of civil society, which is undergoing another severe crackdown as I write.
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02/17/2008
Parade
My Life Under a Dictator
Growing up in Zimbabwe, I dreamed of being a teacher. My mother taught elementary school, and I was inspired by the world of ideas. When I was young, my country was a highly educated society with a strong economy. We had plenty of food to eat and a sense of freedom.
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02/04/2008
News @ UoT
U of T's Scholars-at-Risk program: Haven for scholars
Professor Fereshteh Molavi often sits at her desk in Massey College surrounded by Persian literature, which is both her passion and a reminder of her culture. It's a subject she has decided to make her calling at the University of Toronto. As a member of the Scholars-at-Risk program at Massey College, she has been given the chance to teach Persian literature in the Department of Near and Middle Eastern
Civilizations, a privilege she didn't have in her home country of Iran.
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01/23/2008
E-Bangladesh
Teachers freed, students still behind bars
Three Dhaka University teachers charged with breaching the Emergency Powers Rules during the August 2007 campus protests were freed from jail Tuesday on a presidential clemency. No application was filed for the mercy. DUTA president Sadrul Amin, general secretary Anwar Hossain, Social Sciences dean Harun-or-Rashid, were released after the president suo moto remitted the sentences they were given hours before. Applied Physics and Electronics department chair, Neem Chandra Bhowmick, was released after being acquitted of the charges in two cases over the campus protests of August 21 and 22, 2007. Eleven students, one of whom is still detained in jail, were also acquitted of the charges. Eight students, detained in jail, however, were not released Tuesday although they were either acquitted of the charges along with the teachers or the cases they faced were supposed to be withdrawn.
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01/18/2008
CBC Ottawa
French-Iranian filmmaker released from Iran
France's Foreign Ministry confirmed the return of Montreal-based filmmaker Mehrnoushe Solouki to Paris late Friday morning, the same day Iranian officials permitted her departure after nearly a year in Tehran.
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12/12/2007
The New York Times
Former Iranian President Publicly Assails Ahmadinejad
TEHRAN — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s policies were attacked Tuesday at Tehran’s major university in an unusual speech by his predecessor, who warned that political suppression, questionable economic policies and defiance on the nuclear issue were leading Iranians in the wrong direction.
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12/07/2007
Washington Square News Brownstone Magazine
Endangered Minds
Just over a year ago, professor Dumisani Ngwenya found himself sitting on the floor of a police station in his native Zimbabwe, shirtless and shoeless, exposed to the prying gaze of each passerby.
This was a scare tactic.
In Zimbabwe, it is illegal to criticize the government in public. Because President Robert Mugabe also acts as president of all public universities, free speech does not exist in the classroom. Deeply opposed to President Mugabe's internationally criticized administration, Ngwenya challenged the government in his lectures and encouraged his students to do so as well.
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10/04/2007
Peace Review
From Baghdad to the United Kingdom
As civilized cultures disintegrate in Iraq, the focus of human rights violations shift to target professionals who are often those possessing the attributes to heal a country in turmoil. Because academics are well-placed to challenge ideologies that are flawed, efforts are made to control or silence them. This is done to maintain or gain dominance of a particular sect or ethnic group.
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09/23/2007
The Journal News
Professor who survived persecution in Congo is teaching at Purchase
Felix Ulombe Kaputu is thankful for the little things in life, after spending 4 1/2 months in a muddy, flea-infested prison cell.
"This is what we dream of in the academic world - an office with a computer," Kaputu says. "This is what I dream about as a professor; this is enough for me."
Kaputu, who began teaching at Purchase College this fall, was jailed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Africa, after the government accused him of helping to start a political revolution.
Kaputu is working at Purchase through Scholars at Risk, a network of more than 150 schools that hosts scholars threatened in their native countries.
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06/19/2007
The Boston Globe
Point of no return
Shahriar Mandanipour thought the yearlong International Writers Project at Brown University would give him a well-needed break. The Iranian fiction writer is renown ed in his country for his short stories and novels. But the specter of censorship in Iran weighed upon him. "I lost the passion for writing," he says.
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11/30/2006
The Boston Globe
Iraq's violent "brain drain" called a threat to future
The Boston Globe features an article about efforts of extremists to eliminate Iraqi intellectuals and professionals. Two assisted scholars are interviewed.
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11/27/2006
Washington Post
Iraq's Deadliest Zone: Schools
The Washington Post features an article by an assisted scholar detailing the widespread kidnappings of scholars in Iraq.
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11/15/2006
San Francisco Chronicle
Education Ministry Kidnappings Reflect Plight of Iraqi Academics
The San Francisco Gate features an article about the attacks on Iraqi academics, including an assisted scholar currently teaching at Duke University.
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05/27/2006
WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
Radio interview with Iraqi prof
Dick Gordon, host of the Story with Dick Gordon on WUNC North Carolina Public Radio radio, talked with a visiting SAR scholar at Duke University from Iraq who survived a bombing attempt on his life.
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02/22/2006
The New York Times
Lecturing On a World She Cannot Lecture In
IT'S just a cramped, bunkerlike office in a drab low-rise brick building, but Shemeem Burney Abbas has made it feel like home.
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11/16/2004
The New York Times
Bound but Gagged
Tehran — When I received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, Iranians and Muslims around the world hoped that the prevailing and unfair image of Muslims as terrorists would be discarded. We believed that the prize would encourage a positive, forward-looking understanding of Islam. We hoped that our belief in an interpretation of Islam that is in harmony with democracy, equality, religious freedom and freedom of speech would reach a wider audience, particularly in the West.
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08/28/2004
CollegeNews.org
"Scholar at Risk" a Visiting Professor at Illinois Wesleyan
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- For the first time, Illinois Wesleyan University has a visiting professor from the international Scholars at Risk Network.
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06/18/2004
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Iranian Court Again Spares Professor's Life
Iran's Supreme Court has, for the second time, overturned a death sentence on a history professor convicted of apostasy for attacking clerical rule.
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03/19/2003
The New York Times
Egypt Clears Rights Activist Whose Jailing Drew World Protest
Saad Eddin Ibrahim, the Egyptian-American democracy advocate whose imprisonment here drew widespread international condemnation, was cleared today of all the charges against him.
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12/08/2002
The New York Times
A Passion For Puppetry And Peace
LOUAY ASSAF was sitting amid some of the masks and puppets he had created for stage performances. Even at rest, the colorful, oversize masks and puppets were powerful, their expressions, haunting. Several of the masks had been made for a recent production of ''Rashomon'' at Manhattanville College here, and Mr. Assaf described how his study of the Samurai character preceded its design.
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12/04/2002
The New York Times
Egyptian Court Frees Rights Advocate and Orders Retrial
In a stunning slap at Egypt's emergency laws, the country's highest appeals court ordered a retrial yesterday for Saad Eddin Ibrahim, an Egyptian-American civil rights advocate whose high-profile prosecution strained ties with the United States and was seen as a blatant effort to intimidate critics of the Cairo government.
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11/21/2002
The University of Chicago Chronicle
From Tamatave, Madagascar, to Chicago–scholar’s arduous journey leads to safety at University
After Solofo Randrianja was accepted into the University’s Scholars at Risk program as a visiting scholar, his journey to Chicago this fall was greatly hindered.
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11/19/2002
Chicago Maroon
Jailed Singaporean activist freed
SINGAPOREAN activist Chee Soon Juan has been released from prison after serving a five week sentence for organizing a public rally without a required license.
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02/16/2002
University of Chicago Magazine
A fast boat from China
It would not be mere institutional ego-stroking to say He Qinglian is lucky to be at Chicago. The well-known Chinese economist and writer barely made it out of her home country in June after months of being followed by security agents who had broken into her home, tapped her phone, and seized documents and personal items.
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11/12/2001
Chicago Sun Times
Putting life back together
"A Pakistani family escapes religious hard-liners, faces a tough U.S. economy."
Naseem Rizvi, her husband, Kamran, and their daughter, Yumna, left a comfortable middle-class life in Pakistan as a result of death threats in response to Kamran's human rights work. They received asylum in the US, but have since struggled economically. Rizvi, an International Relations specialist who was a University lecturer in Pakistan, has recently revived her academic career with the aid of the Scholars at Risk Network. She is currently a visiting lecturer at Loyola University in Chicago, teaching a course called "The Politics and Foreign Policy of Afghanistan."
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03/28/2001
New York Times
Beijing Says Chinese-Born Scholar on Visit From U. S. Is a Spy
Dr. Gao Zhan, an American-based sociologist, has been held in isolation since her arrest six weeks ago in Beijing at the end of a three-week visit with relatives in China. On March 27 the Chinese government leveled charges of spying for "overseas intelligence aganecies" against Dr. Gao. A State Department spokesman in Washington dismissed the allegations and reiterated Secretary of State Colin Powell's and President Bush's call for Dr. Gao's immediate release.
Her husband and 5-year old son, who is an American citizen, were also arrested. The three were held seperately, with the 5-year old boy being put in a government nursery despite his parents' plea that he be placed with his grandparents, who live in China.
The husband of son of Dr. Gao were released after 26 days and allowed to return home to the United States.
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