The Middle East Studies Association Task Force on Civil and Human Rights and the Committee on Academic Freedom join together in expressing our shock and outrage at reports concerning the arrest and detention of Iranian materials scientist Dr. Sirous Asgari.
Letter to the president of the University of Toronto protesting the rescinding of the offer of employment to Dr. Valentina Azarova.
Letter to Iranian authorities protesting students' detention, and reports according to which they are being pressured into making televised false confessions in order to escape the death penalty.
Letter to Israeli authorities protesting the continued detention of Imad Barghouthi, Professor of Theoretical Space Plasma Physics at Al-Quds University, and the order to place him under administrative detention.
Letter to Egyptian authorities expressing deep concern regarding the verdict against Bahey eldin Hassan, in absentia, on 25 August 2020. Hassan is a leading human rights advocate in Egypt and founder of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS). CAF also urges the authorities to drop all charges against Hassan.
Letter regarding a new social media law in Turkey that endangers academic freedom by further expanding government censorship.
University of Southern California President Carol L. Folt responds to August 17 CAF letter regarding her recent message conflating anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism.
Letter to the President of USC criticizing her recent message conflating anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism.
Letter to Israeli authorities condemning the detention and conditional release of Rania Elias, Suhail Khoury, and Daoud Al-Ghoul, directors of cultural institutions in occupied East Jerusalem, and the infringements on educational and cultural rights of Palestinian residents of occupied East Jerusalem.
Letter regarding the case of Dr. Kayıhan Pala, a Public Health professor at Uludağ University, who faces a disciplinary investigation for sharing his scholarly views on the numbers of reported Covid-19 cases and fatalities in Bursa.
Letter to Iranian authorities protesting the transfer of Dr. Kylie Moore-Gilbert from Evin to Qarchak prison and expressing grave concern for her safety and well-being.
Letter to Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu about the most recent arrest and administrative detention of Dr. Imad Barghouti of Al-Quds University without charge or trial.
Letter regarding the case of Professor Bülent Şık whose research focuses on public health, food safety and the right to a healthy environment, and who was given a prison sentence for making public his research on industrial pollution.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Assistant Vice Chancellor responds to June 3 CAF letter about Horowitz Center attack on Samer Alatout.
Letter to the Government of Israel protesting the ongoing obstruction of Palestinian higher education through the persistent targeting and detention of Palestinian students and the most recent spate of arbitrary arrests.
MESA is pleased to report that the prominent Bahraini human rights activist, Nabeel Rajab has been released from prison – albeit under “severe restrictions” – after serving four of a five-year sentence.
Letter regarding the recent amendments made to Turkey’s Higher Education Law that enable arbitrary and unconstitutional forms of punishment against faculty and politically motivated closures of private universities.
Letter to the Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison protesting the David Horowitz Freedom Center's Scurrilous Attack on Professor Samer Alatout.
We congratulate Lara Fresko Madra (Cornell University) as one of the 2020 Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellows.
MESA mourns the passing of University of Washington Professor Emeritus Walter G. Andrews.
Letter to Egyptian authorities protesting the arrest and extended pre-trial detention of Kholoud Said, a translator at Bibliotheka Alexandrina, and calling for reform of the criminal code that allows for multiple renewals of the pre-trial detention period
Letter to the vice provost/vice president of Duke University criticizing the summoning of a student for questioning over her social media posts.
Letter regarding recent developments affecting Istanbul Sehir University that have compromised the university’s governance and autonomy and now threaten it with closure as a result of an apparently politically motivated campaign by the Turkish government.
Letter to Iranian authorities expressing our grave concern over the well-being of Australian-British dual national, Dr. Kylie Moore-Gilbert, who has been imprisoned in Iran since 2018.
Letter to Israeli authorities regarding the recent sentencing and continued imprisonment of Mais Abu Gush, a Birzeit University student who has been detained since August 2019.