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Middle East Studies Association of North America, Inc.
3542 N. Geronimo Avenue
Tucson, AZ 85705
520 333-2577 phone
520 207-3166 fax
Follow-up letter to Shaikh Hamad bin 'Issa al Khalifa regarding the maltreatment of Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace, a professor sentenced to life in prison on charges of attempting to overthrow the government. His health demands immediate attention and proper medical care which are going untreated.
– Letter to PM Hazem al-Beblawy about the worsening climate for free speech and peaceable assembly on university campuses in Egypt.
Revocation of citizenship from 31 Bahraini nationals, including MESA member Dr. Abdulhadi Khalaf, with no cause and without following even the minimal standards of procedure.
Letter to Shaikh Hamad bin ‘Issa Al Khalifa regarding Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace, a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and a noted human rights activist, who was sentenced to life in prison on charges of attempting to overthrow the government. CAF, along with Scholars at Risk, believes that Dr. Al-Singace is a prisoner of conscience, a man jailed solely for the non-violent expression of his political beliefs.
Letter to PM Erdoğan expressing concern over reports of reprisal actions against university students and professors as a consequence of their support of the “Gezi Protests.”
Letter to PM Erdoğan regarding three mass trials that included academics who were tried, together with dozens of others, based on highly politicized charges and without appropriate procedural protections, contributing to a climate of intimidation on university campuses.
Letter to Israeli dignitaries expressing concern about the recent repeated attacks against Al-Quds University campus in Abu Dis carried out by IDF forces. Such attacks against an educational institution constitute a direct infringement on academic freedom in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Letter to Florida Atlantic University Interim President about the university’s response to a protest organized on April 19, 2013, by Students for Justice in Palestine.
Letter to Prime Minister Hazem AlBeblawi expressing concern about the August 16 arrest and detention of two Canadian citizens - film-maker and York University professor John Greyson and physician and University of Western Ontario professor Tarek Loubani.
Letter to York University President Mamdouh Shukri expressing concern about the response to on-campus political advocacy including sanctioning a student by banning him from being on York University property until April 2014.
Letter to Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada President Chad Gaffield expressing concern about his organization's use of a politicized referee's report to evaluate a research proposal submitted by University of Toronto Professor Jens Hanssen.
Letter to University President Mohammad Qayoumi expressing concern about the response of San José State to the ongoing controversy surrounding the recent workshop for high school teachers and community college faculty on teaching the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that was organized by Professor Persis Karim.
Letter regarding incidents at Kilis 7 Aralık University that have created an atmosphere on campus that negatively impacts teaching, academic research and scholarly production which continue despite efforts by faculty members at the university to seek redress through the Higher Education Council (YÖK).
Letter to Suez University President Maher Musbah protesting the current investigation and informal suspension without pay of Dr. Mona Prince who is accused by one of her students of expressing untoward sentiments about Islam during a class discussion about the problem of sectarian tensions in Egypt.
Letter urging the Claremont McKenna College administration and faculty to investigate in a thorough and even-handed manner so as to uphold the principles of free speech and academic freedom regarding the demonstration on March 4 held by Students for Justice in Palestine.
Letter regarding the imprisonment of professors Dr. Abdul Rahman Al Shamiri and Dr. Musa Al Qarni, who were arrested, detained, maltreated, tried, and convicted on false and politically motivated charges.
Complaint to UAE officials for denying entry to Dr. Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Co-Director of the Kuwait Research Programme at the London School of Economics (LSE), who on February 22 was denied entry into the United Arab Emirates “for consistently propagated views de-legitimizing the Bahraini monarchy.”
Letter regarding police violence at Ankara’s Middle East Technical University on December 18, 2012, when an extraordinarily large police contingent was deployed. Students were protesting government policies on the regulation of higher education and the attendant violation of student rights during PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to the METU campus in connection to the launching of the Göktürk-2 satellite.
Latest attack by Syrian forces at the University of Aleppo where 80 or more are said to have lost their lives, and more than 150 people were injured.
Support of Brooklyn College President Karen Gould’s principled stance regarding the public forum on the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign that took place at Brooklyn College on February 7, 2013.
Mounting reports of intimidation and persecution of students and faculty on Marmara University’s campus and alleged actions of the Dean of the Faculty of Communications, Yusuf Devran, which threaten freedom of thought and freedom of research at the university.
Concern regarding the imprisonment and maltreatment of Omid Kokabee, a doctoral student in physics at the University of Texas at Austin, who was arrested in February 2011 during a visit to Iran and incarcerated at Evin Prison without clear charges or a trial for 15 months. He was later sentenced to 10 years in prison on unsubstantiated charges.
Ongoing pattern of arrests and detentions of academics, scholars and students on the basis of their research and scholarship concerning Kurdish issues.
The fourteen-year-long cycle of trials and acquittals that has subjected Pınar Selek, a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at the University of Strasbourg, to prolonged denial of justice. Selek’s plight has also contributed to a climate of intimidation confronting all scholars, within and outside of Turkey, who wish to conduct research and writing on Kurdish issues.
Allegations of censorship at several Turkish universities where scholarly publications have touched on sensitive subjects such as racism against Africans in Turkey, Kurdish rights or environmental issues.