SAR Press Release:

Mehrangiz Kar, renowned defender of human rights to speak at the University of California, Davis
SAR-PR-04-12 - October 18, 2004

New York, NY - Iranian human rights advocate Mehrangiz Kar will visit the University of California at Davis as part of its Scholars at Risk program on November 16. Kar will give a public lecture on human rights and democracy in Iran organized by UC Davis' Extension International Programs, University Outreach & International Programs, and the School of Law.

Kar's public lecture will be held on November 16, at 4:00 pm at the University Club on the UC Davis campus, and a reception will be held at 5:00 pm at the same location. For more information, contact 1 (530) 754-8945.

Kar's visit will take place during UC Davis' International Education Week and aims to raise awareness about UC Davis' participation in the Scholars at Risk Network by highlighting threats facing scholars like Kar and ways university communities can work to defend them.

Mehrangiz Kar is an Iranian lawyer and writer specializing in women's rights and family law. A colleague of 2003 Nobel peace prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, Kar is internationally renowned for her writings, speaking and activism in defense of women's and human rights. She is the recipient of several human rights awards, including the 2002 Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize and the 2000 Donna Dell'Anno Award of the Conseil De Lavallee Consiglio Regionale Della Valle d'Aosta in Italy.

Kar is a visiting scholar this year at the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University, a visit jointly sponsored by the Ford Foundation and Harvard University's Scholars at Risk Committee. Harvard's Scholars at Risk Committee, with the support of the President, provides a fellowship for at least one scholar to come to Harvard per year that has experienced threats of violence and persecution because of his or her work, prominence or exercise of basic human rights.

Mehrangiz Kar came to world-wide attention in 2000 when she was imprisoned in the spring of 2000 for expressing critical views about Iran's legal system while at an international conference in Berlin. In January 2001 she was convicted and sentenced to four years' imprisonment on charges of acting against national security and disseminating propaganda against the Islamic regime. Kar was later released on bail and her sentence was reduced to six months' imprisonment, calculated as time served (two months' imprisonment) plus a 500,000 rial fine.

"Mehrangiz Kar is a true champion of freedom," says Robert Quinn, director of the Scholars at Risk Network. "Despite great cost to herself and her family, she has maintained the courage to think freely and to share her opinions in her writing, her teaching and through talks like this one. She is exactly the type of important, courageous, intellectual voice that Scholars at Risk was created to honor and defend," adds Quinn.

Mehrangiz Kar left for the United States after her release on bail in 2001. After arriving in the United States, her husband, 73-year old journalist Siamak Pourzand was tried and sentenced to eight years in prison for charges widely thought to be politically motivated. He remains in prison to this day.

Kar's visit to Davis is sponsored by University Outreach & International Programs, UC Davis Extension, the School of Law, the Middle East/South Asia Studies Program, and the International Relations Program at Davis, and also by the Scholars at Risk Network.

UC Davis hosted one of the first scholars placed through the Scholars at Risk Network, a scholar from Bangladesh in 2002, Dr. Maimul Khan, and is working to host another scholar in the coming year. Dr. Beth Greenwood, Executive Director, International Programs, UC Davis School of Law, hosted Dr. Khan and is a member of the Scholars at Risk Network Advisory Board.

"We are so grateful for the support UC Davis has given Scholars at Risk, particularly from the UC Davis Office of University Outreach and International Programs and the Law School," said Quinn, "UC Davis has been with us from the beginning, seeing Scholars at Risk grow from an idea of a few people to a full-fledged, international organization working to save lives and provide refuge to threatened scholars from around the world."

Scholars at Risk is a NYU-based, international network of more than 90 universities and colleges working to promote academic freedom and to defend the human rights of scholars and scholarly communities worldwide. Scholars at Risk's primary activity is to arrange short-term visits to Network-member institutions for scholars who suffer because of their work, prominence, or the exercise of fundamental human rights. For more information, visit: http://scholarsatrisk.nyu.edu or call (212) 998-2179.

Kar's public lecture is free and open to the public. Directions to the University Club can be found at: http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/services/directions.lasso#Anchor-King Media and non-UC Davis persons interested in attending the event should arrange access by contacting Nicole Ranganath, University Outreach & International Programs, at 1 (530) 754-8945 or nranganath AT ucdavis.edu.

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