SAR Press Release:

Illinois Wesleyan University to host Pakistani Journalist as Scholars at Risk guest speaker
SAR-PR-04-01, March 1, 2004

Pakistani journalist Ameera Javeria will give a public lecture at Illinois Wesleyan University about her experiences as a female scholar in Pakistan as part of the Scholars at Risk Speaker Series to educate the public about threats to academic freedom and attacks on scholars.

The lecture, entitled "Islamic Women in the Line of Fire" will be held at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 24, at the IWU Center for Natural Sciences, Room C102. The lecture is hosted by Illinois Wesleyan University and is free and open to the public. Ms. Javeria will discuss her personal experiences as a female scholar in Pakistan and her current research on crimes against women in Islamic societies. She will also give an informal talk the following day to undergraduate students. For information the day of the event, please contact: (309) 556-3098.

The lecture is part of the Scholars at Risk Speaker Series, which is designed to raise public awareness about threats to academic freedom and attacks on scholars. Ms. Javeria, a visiting scholar at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Michigan, formerly worked for the newspaper The Frontier Post in Peshawar, a conservative town in Pakistan less than 20 miles from the border of Afghanistan. After the offices were torched and criminal proceedings were brought against several journalists, including her husband, Ms. Javeria was unable to continue working safely in Pakistan and chose to leave the country with her husband.

Illinois Wesleyan University is an early founder of Scholars at Risk, an international network of universities and colleges that promotes academic freedom and defends the human rights of scholars worldwide. For more information about Scholars at Risk, contact (212) 998-2179.

Media Contacts:

Scholars at Risk: Carla Stuart, tel: (212) 998-2179
Illinois Wesleyan University: (309) 556-3098