After eight months of frustrating delays in the United Arab Republic, the 78-year old South African pediatrician and oncologist, who was arrested on his way through Dubai last August, finally went home on May 17.

The arrest grew out of a 2002 treatment by Dr. Karabus of a child suffering from cancer in the UAR.  The patient later died of leukemia. A court in the UAR, in a trial of which Karabus had no notice, convicted  him of responsibility for her death. Although that conviction was eventually reversed, in 2012, while Dr. Karabus was traveling to Capetown through the UAR from his son’s wedding in New York, he was arrested and retried on the same charges.

CCS protested this evident miscarriage of justice. The Appeals Court in Abu Dhabi upheld the Criminal Court decision clearing Karabus of the charges and the prosecutor decided against an appeal.

Related articles

• South African doctor flies home after nine-month limbo over UAE death (guardian.co.uk)
• South African Oncologist Cyril Karabus Finally Permitted to Leave the UAE and Return Home (National Academy of Sciences, Committee on Human Rights)
• SA, UAE ties intact despite Karabus ordeal (News24)

Stephen Hawking in Jerusalem, 2006 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In a letter to  the eminent scientist Stephen Hawking, the co-chairs’ of the Committee of Concerned Scientists expressed concern on behalf of CCS that Hawking has publicly endorsed the movement for “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)” directed against Israel and  that he has declined an invitation to the June Israeli Presidential Conference in support of the BDS boycott.

CCS has consistently opposed academic boycotts for political purposes as detrimental to science and academic exchanges of views, including views on human rights.

Professor Stephen Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA
c/o Tim Holt
Head of Media Relations at Cambridge University
Office of Communications
01223 332300
tim.holt@admin.cam.ac.uk

May 14, 2013

Dear Professor Hawking:

Our enormous respect for you, as scientific colleagues, induces our deep reluctance to disagree with your recent action, but we feel compelled to do so. We are saddened by your support of the British academic movement that is directed against Israel, “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS),” as publicly expressed in your decision to withdraw from the Israeli Presidential Conference of this year. The conference, titled “Facing Tomorrow 2013,” brings together statesmen and leading experts in various disciplines to discuss ways to address the world’s problems. The goal, organizers say, is to identify challenges and propose solutions.

While the Committee of Concerned Scientists fully supports the right of scientists and others to criticize the policies of governments, we strongly oppose the blanket exclusion of colleagues, as proposed by BDS, from participation in international scientific or academic work or meetings on the sole basis of the sponsor’s or the scientist’s nationality. Since the BDS movement is sponsored by academics, its most likely impact will be on academia and science.

We have consistently opposed scientific and academic boycotts on political grounds. The whole scholarly and scientific enterprise depends upon the ferment that generates new ideas and experiments. Scientific meetings and exchanges are the settings where science develops and they often include opportunities for discussion of human rights and scientific freedom. Thus, for example, the Committee of Concerned Scientists is a co-sponsor of the Malta Conferences, where scientists from fifteen countries in the Middle East, including Israel and the Palestinian Authority, meet biannually to discuss issues of common concern in their region, such as water resources or science education. Unlike boycotts, such meetings can lead to constructive interactions and they further peace. Another international project, featured at our annual meeting, SESAME, involves the collaboration of nine middle Eastern governments, including Israel and the Palestinian Authority, in building a 3rd Generation Synchrotron Light Source in Jordan as a center for research, science education, and regional co-operation.

Similarly, your earlier plan to attend the conference and express your disagreement with current Israeli policy, as was stated in your May 3 letter quoted in the Guardian, would be a valuable contribution to the current debate. We urge you to reconsider your decision to boycott the conference and to withdraw your support of BDS .

Sincerely yours,

Eugene Chudnovsky
Alexander Greer
Joel Lebowitz
Walter Reich
Paul Plotz

Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

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Dear Professor Hawking

Enormous respect for you, as a scientific colleague, induces my deep reluctance to disagree with your recent action, but I feel compelled to do so. I am saddened by your support of the British academic movement that is directed against Israel, “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS),” as publicly expressed in your decision to withdraw from the Israeli Presidential Conference of this year. The conference, titled “Facing Tomorrow 2013,” brings together statesmen and leading experts in various disciplines to discuss ways to address the world’s problems. The goal, organizers say, is to identify challenges and propose solutions. While I fully support the right of scientists and others to criticize the policies of governments, I strongly oppose the blanket exclusion of colleagues, as proposed by BDS, from participation in international scientific or academic work or meetings on the sole basis of the sponsor’s or the scientist’s nationality. Since the BDS movement is sponsored by academics, its most likely impact will be on academia and science. I oppose scientific and academic boycotts on political grounds. The whole scholarly and scientific enterprise depends upon the ferment that generates new ideas and experiments. Scientific meetings and exchanges are the settings where science develops and they often include opportunities for discussion of human rights and scientific freedom. Your earlier plan to attend the conference and express your disagreement with current Israeli policy, as was stated in your May 3 letter quoted in the Guardian, would be a valuable contribution to the current debate. I urge you to reconsider your decision to boycott the conference and to withdraw your support of BDS . Sincerely,

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Related articles

• British physicist Stephen Hawking boycotts Israel (upi.com)
• Stephen Hawking (guardian.co.uk)

Our Previous Activities

Chen Guangcheng Calls Rule of Law Essential in China for Human Rights 

Learn More

Chinese Authorities Harass Chen Kegui’s Toddler Son, Joshua Lipes, (Radio Free Asia), 4/9/13

Fears for China activist nephew (bbc.co.uk)

US urges medical treatment for Chinese detainee (seattletimes.com)

Ghanbari was sentenced to death on January 30, 2010 on charges of “enmity against God” (Moharebeh) for allegedly participating in protests on the holiday of Ashura in December 2009. We further understand that the Tehran Appeals Court, Branch 36, upheld Professor Ghanbari’s death sentence in April 2010 and the Commission of Justice in Tehran rejected his request for pardon on February 28, 2012.

Our Previous Activities

Urgent Protest of Death Sentence for Iranian Scholar

The fact that this sentence was overturned does not mean that  Ghanbari could not be retried and the sentence reimposed, according to Amnesty’s sources, but at least he is not in danger of imminent execution.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
c/o H.E. Mr. Mohammad Khazaee
Ambassador of Iran to the United Nations
Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
662 Third Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10017, USA
Via fax to: +1 (212) 867-7086

March 19, 2012

Your Excellency:

We are an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and academic freedom for colleagues all over the world. We write now in grave concern for Professor Abdolreza Ghanbari.

Professor Abdolreza Ghanbari completed a PhD in Persian language and literature and has taught this subject in high schools and at Payame Nour University. We understand that his only political activity was to belong to a trade union that had been dissolved in 2007. Ghanbari was sentenced to death on January 30, 2010 on charges of “enmity against God” (Moharebeh) for allegedly participating in protests on the holiday of Ashura in December 2009. We further understand that the Tehran Appeals Court, Branch 36, upheld Professor Ghanbari’s death sentence in April 2010 and the Commission of Justice in Tehran rejected his request for pardon on February 28, 2012.

It was reported that while Professor Ghanbari was detained in Evin Prison before his trial, he was interrogated and forced under duress to confess the charges against him. Ghanbbari’s lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, is serving a six-year prison sentence and unable to defend him. These actions constitute a serious disregard of international standards of due process, fair trial and detention as guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is signatory. Such disregard of due process resulting in a death sentence for this scholar is particularly distressing, given Iran’s rich intellectual history and traditional support for the values of scholarship.

We join other international academic and human rights organizations and in urging you to intervene to ensure the reversal of Professor Ghanbari’s death sentence. We also urge you to otherwise ensure his well-being, access to family, medical treatment and counsel of his choosing, pending his earliest release.

We appreciate your attention to this important matter and look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

Eugene Chudnovsky
Alexander Greer
Joel Lebowitz
Walter Reich
Paul Plotz

Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

Copies to:

Head of the Judiciary
Ayatollah Sadeqh Larijani

Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh
(Office of the Head of the Judiciary)
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave. (south of Serah-e Jomhouri)
Tehran 1316814737
Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: larijani@dadgostary-tehran.ir or info@dadgostary-tehran.ir

The Honorable Hillary Clinton
United States Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520 USA

The Honorable Navanethem Pillay
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Palais des Nations
CH-1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland

Scholars at Risk
New York University
194 Mercer St., 4th floor
New York, NY 10012 USA
Fax: +1 212 995-4402
scholarsatrisk@nyu.edu

CCS and many other international science and human rights organizations have protested his ten-year sentence for charges of cooperating with hostile governments that were not supported by a fair trial.

Director General Yukiya Amano
International Atomic Energy Administration
IAEA Office at the United Nations
1 United Nations Plaza, Room DC-1-1155
New York, NY 10017 USA

May 3, 2013

Dear Director General Yukiya Amano:

The Committee of Concerned Scientists (CCS), an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars, devoted since 1972 to the protection and advancement of human rights and scientific freedom for colleagues all over the world, is writing to you in concern for Omid Kokabee, an Iranian graduate student in physics, imprisoned in Tehran since January 2011.

A recent article in the journal Nature sheds new light on Kokabee’s imprisonment and suggests that it is related to Iran’s alleged unwillingness to obey its obligations under the International Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), as shown by Iran’s obstacles to international inspections by IAEA In two open letters, Kokabee claims that he was jailed for refusing to engage in Iranian military projects and that the projects could involve nuclear weapons. His refusal before and during his imprisonment appears to be the principal reason for his imprisonment and sentence.

We have been concerned with the lack of due process of Kokabee’s imprisonment and ten-year sentence for espionage (“cooperation with a hostile government”) ever since his arrest in 2011, when he went home to Iran from his graduate studies at the University of Texas/Austin. In view of the fact that his studies involved optics and not nuclear technology, as scientists we questioned any connection by Kokabee with a field that could be of interest to any government, such as nuclear physics. Moreover, associates of Kokabee assured us that he had never been interested in politics and Kokabee himself steadfastly denied all of the charges. Although charges of espionage were neither substantiated nor defended by counsel in a fair trial, an Iranian appeals court has upheld this severe sentence. Kokabee’s treatment and its lack of due process are further confirmation of the grave concerns expressed in the recent report by Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran, on the poor state of human rights in that country.

As you know, Iran is precluded from developing nuclear weapons by the NPT, to which it is a party. It seems to us to be gross misuse of Iran’s attempts to circumvent this treaty that it is inducing a young scientist to participate in possibly illegal activities by jailing him. It is also a violation of human rights to coerce a scientist to participate in military projects that he does not want to support and to punish him with unsupported espionage charges in retaliation.

We urge you to support our attempts and those of many other international science and human rights organizations to call for the immediate release of Omid Kokabee, allowing him to return to his studies and to benefit the welfare of his country’s peaceful scientific development.

Sincerely,

Eugene Chudnovsky
Alexander Greer
Joel Lebowitz
Walter Reich
Paul Plotz

Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

Copies to:

Dr. Ahmed Shaheed
United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran
OHCHR- Palais Wilson
United Nations office at Geneva
CH-1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland

Secretary of State John F. Kerry
US Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington DC 20520

Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
C/o H.E. Mr. Mohammad Khazaee, Ambassador of Iran to the United Nations
Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations
662 Third Avenue, 34th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Fax to: +1 (212) 867-7086

Head of the Ministry of Justice
Ayatollah Sadegh Lariani
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh
(Office of the Head of the Judiciary)
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave. (south of Serah-e Jomhouri)
Tehran 1316814737
Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: larijani@dadgostary-tehran.ir or info@dadgostary-tehran.ir

Related articles

• Iranian says he was jailed for refusing to engage in military research(nature.com)

• Release Wrongfully Imprisoned Iranian Scientist (forcechange.com)

Our Previous Activities

• Our work on behalf of Omid Kokabee

By the United States Department of State via Wikimedia Commons

Blind Chinese lawyer Chen Guangcheng, who is studying at NYU law school under asylum in the US, gave a talk on February 6, 2013, at the New School in New York City on “The Future of the Rule of Law and Human Rights in China.”

CCS had advocated on behalf of granting asylum to Chen in 2012, when he fled from house arrest and mistreatment by Chinese authorities to the US Embassy in Beijing. Chen had incurred the wrath of local authorities in Shandong province of by winning cases on behalf of local people who resisted illegal actions, including forced abortion, unlawful treatment of disabled persons, and by bringing a landmark class action against misappropriation of land for purposes of development.

In 2007, Chen received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for integrity and courage. His dramatic night-time escape on foot will be the subject of his forthcoming book.

Our Previous Activities

Ronald Reagan’s Lessons for the Chen Guangcheng Case Can Still be Useful

Grant US Asylum to Blind Chinese lawyer, CCS Urges Secretary of State Clinton

Inna Abramova, a graduate student in chemistry at Brooklyn College and a CCS intern, and Sophie Cook, Executive Director, heard Chen’s February 6 talk, which was under the auspices of the Center for Public Scholarship’s “University in Exile” series. We include our summary below.

The Future of the Rule of Law and Human Rights in China

The New School, a center of intellectual and artistic freedom and tolerance that became a host to many endangered scholars, presented the fourth in the series “University of Exile,” introducing the activist lawyer Chen Guancheng, currently a visiting scholar at NYU School of Law. The event was dedicated to the human rights, social justice and the rule of law in China.

The conversation took place between Chen Guangcheng, Dr. Jerome Cohen, an expert on China and Chinese Law who was instrumental in negotiating for Chen Guangcheng’s release, and Dr. Ira Belkin, Executive Director of the US-Asia Law Center, who acted as interpreter.

One of the crucial questions confronting the new Chinese administration, Chen said, is the relationship between the Communist Party and Chinese legal institutions and whether there is a prospect of a revived interest in separating the Party from the courts. Before Tiananmen Square, the Communist Party and the courts were separate. This is no longer the case, he said.

Chen Guangcheng believes that there is a need to build a new society in China, characterized by fairness, social justice and openness, which calls for constitutional government, democracy and free speech and for the government to live up to its promises and Chinese laws. He identifies the problem facing the Chinese society as disobedience of the Chinese laws by Communist Party officials. “If the leaders acted appropriately, then everyone under the leadership wouldn’t dare to act inappropriately.”

Chen Guangcheng related the current case of his nephew, Chen Kegui, who was sentenced to 3 years and 3 months and is thought by many as an act of revenge for Chen’s escape and as a continuation of his own case. The case arose out of a break-in to Chen’s brother’s house by thugs Chen believes were hired by local authorities and Chen Kegui’s attempt to protect their home. Chen listed violations of Chinese law by local officials with respect to the trial of his nephew, including the right to self-defense, the right to lawyers, prosecution of the “intruders”, and the right to appeal. In talking about the trial, which wasn’t open to the public, Chen used a Chinese expression “If you’ve done nothing wrong, why don’t you let other people see it”. He also mentioned that part of the agreement between China and the US concerning his asylum had included a promise by the Chinese government to investigate the unfair trial of Chen himself – a promise that has not been fulfilled.

Earlier in his career, Dr. Cohen explained, Chen had been popular with the Chinese government, who sent him to the US in 2003. However, Chen became too effective in challenging local authorities. For example, he used litigation to enforce the rights of disabled persons under Chinese law to be exempt from taxes and the duty to work. Similarly, Chen challenged the power of local Communist Party secretaries to force illegal abortions and sterilizations. A survey in one Chinese province, Chen said, uncovered 130,000 unlawful abortions in just one city. If the pregnant woman couldn’t be found, the authorities detained a family member to coerce the abortion, he said. (In another context, Chen has said that the one-child family policy has probably become obsolete in contemporary China.) His work with women and disabled, Chen said, was human rights work rather than dissidence. “If the local Party secretary is not involved, you’re OK. If he is, you lose.”

Lack of transparency is a key issue in China. Under Article 73, Chen said, the Government can still send individuals to “re-education” camps without trial for up to six months. Recently, due to public pressure, families pf those interned have to be notified but the cases are still “out of public view.”

One of the issues raised during the discussion was trying to characterize Chen Guangcheng. Although he never advocated overthrowing the government, he believes that if the Chinese Communist party can’t satisfy the people’s demands for universal values and fair society, it should step aside. In this way, he is getting closer to being a dissident, because of frustration and lack of response from the government. This issue was also encompassed by questions from the audience about the dilemma that Chen faces on the personal (endangering his family and relatives) and public fronts (open criticism of the Chinese government versus silent diplomacy in building constructive conversation).

Chen Guangcheng seems motivated to continue working for human rights no matter where he is. In his message to the Chinese American students in the audience, he encouraged promoting fairness and justice in Chinese society, saying that the future is in their hands.

Related articles

• Escaped Activist’s Family Faces Threats in China (abcnews.go.com)
• China’s new leaders will not bring change, says blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng (telegraph.co.uk)

• Click here to read our most recent letter about Drs. Haberal and Hilmioglu.
• Click here for our letter about Pinar Selek

Learn More and Take Action

Turkey: Decriminalize Dissent: Time to Deliver on The Right to Freedom Of Expression, Amnesty International

Turkey’s War on Its Intellectuals, Amnesty International

Have you taken action yet? The time is now! Amnesty International

Our Previous Activities

CCS Activities in Turkey

His Excellency Abdullah Gül
President, Republic of Turkey
Office of the President
Cumhurbaşkanlığı
06689
Çankaya, Ankara
, Republic of Turkey

March 11, 2013

Your Excellency:

We are an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and scientific freedom for colleagues all over the world.

Last March 2011, we wrote in concern for Drs. Mehmet Haberal, the former rector of Baskent University in Ankara, who pioneered transplant surgery in Turkey, and Fatih Hilmioglu, former rector of Inönü University in Malatya. They had been indicted on allegations of attempting to violently overthrow the government. Neither of these highly-respected academics are known to have been involved in any violent activity. In November of 2011 we transmitted a petition on their behalf signed by academics around the world.

Drs. Haberal and Hilmioglu have now been detained for almost four years, since their arrests in April 2009. Dr. Haberal has angina, cardiac arrhythmia, and severe anxiety and depression. Dr. Hilmioglu suffers from cirrhosis of the liver and reportedly is gravely ill.

We are concerned that these highly-respected academics appear to be held solely for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association, which is expressly prohibited by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Turkey is a signatory, as well as the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Turkey is a party. Furthermore, we understand that severely limiting their access to their attorneys and subjecting them to extremely lengthy legal proceedings have violated their rights to a fair trial under Turkish and international law.

In view of the fact that they were arrested for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, that their legal proceedings have been conducted in an improper manner, depriving them of fair trials, and that they are both seriously ill, we respectively request that Drs. Haberal and Hilmioglu be released and permitted to continue their work in medical science for the benefit of the Turkish people to whom they have dedicated their lives.

Sincerely yours,

Eugene Chudnovsky
Alexander Greer
Joel Lebowitz
Walter Reich
Paul Plotz

Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

Copies to:

His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
Basbakanlik 06573
Ankara, Republic of Turkey

His Excellency Sadullah Ergin
Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice
06669 Kizilay
Ankara,Republic of Turkey
(Fax: 90-312-419-33-70)

His Excellency Besir Atalay
Minister of Interior
Ministry of Interior
T.C. İçişleri Bakanlığı, Bakanlıklar
Ankara, Republic of Turkey

His Excellency Dr. Ahmet Davutoglu
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Turkiye Cumhuriyeti Disisleri Bakanligi
Dr. Sadik Ahmed Cad. No. 8
Balgat Ankara 06100

His Excellency Nabi Şensoy
Ambassador of Turkey to the United States
Embassy of the Republic of Turkey
2525 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008

The Honorable James F. Jeffrey
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey
Embassy of the United States of America/Ankara
110 Atatürk Blvd.
Kavaklidere, 06100
Ankara, Republic of Turkey

His Excellency Abdullah Gül,
President
Office of the President
Cumhurbaşkanlığı
06689
Çankaya, Ankara
, Republic of Turkey

March 27 , 2013
Your Excellency:
We are an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and scientific freedom for colleagues all over the world. We are writing now in concern for Ms. Pinar Selek, a Turkish citizen who is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of Strasbourg. We have been informed that Ms. Selek was convicted in absentia on January 24, 2013, and sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for her alleged role in a 1998 explosion at an Istanbul market.

Ms. Pınar Selek is a writer and scholar whose research and writing focuses on women in disadvantaged or marginalized groups, including street children, prostitutes, transgendered individuals, and Kurdish communities. We understand that because of her work with Kurdish populations, Ms. Selek was charged with “membership in an illegal organization” under Turkey’s Anti Terror Law, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is banned in Turkey and designated a terrorist organization. Ms. Selek disavows the allegation that she is a member or otherwise associated with the PKK. We also have learned that the allegation linking Ms. Selek to the PKK was seriously discredited when the accuser recanted his statement in court, stating that he gave Ms. Selek’s name after being tortured.

Apparently, Ms. Selek was accused of acting as an accomplice in a 1998 explosion at the Istanbul Spice Bazaar due to her alleged ties to the PKK. After being detained in an Istanbul prison for more than two years and enduring torture, she was released following forensic testing that determined the blast was likely caused by a gas leak. The prosecution of Ms. Selek has continued, however, even though she was tried and acquitted of all charges on three occasions and all the prosecution’s witnesses have recanted their statements. It is our understanding that in November 2012, during the presiding judge’s leave of absence, the Istanbul 12th Heavy Criminal Court decided to review the case for a fourth time, found Ms. Selek guilty, and on January 24, 2013, sentenced her in absentia to aggravated life imprisonment. We have learned that an arrest warrant has since been issued for Ms. Selek and sent to Interpol.

We are concerned that Ms. Selek was charged as a result of her nonviolent activities as well as the associations she has made in the course of her academic research. These activities and associations are expressly protected under international human rights instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Turkey is a signatory, and the European Convention on Human Rights, to which Turkey is party.

Therefore, we respectfully urge you to ensure that Ms. Selek receives a fair opportunity to appeal this recent sentence before an impartial tribunal, that any charges or convictions related to her academic activities are lifted, and that in the interim, her case is addressed in a manner consistent with internationally recognized standards of due process, fair trial and detention, in accordance with Turkey’s obligations under international law.

Sincerely yours,

Eugene Chudnovsky
Alexander Greer
Joel Lebowitz
Walter Reich
Paul Plotz

Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

Copies to:

High Representative Catherine Ashton
European Union EEAS
COMM-SPP-HRVP-ASHTON@ec.europa.eu

His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
Basbakanlik
06573
Ankara
, Republic of Turkey

His Excellency Sadullah Ergin
Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice
06669
Kizilay, Ankara
,Republic of Turkey
(Fax: 90-312-419-33-70)

His Excellency Besir Atalay
Minister of Interior
Ministry of Interior
T.C. İçişleri Bakanlığı, Bakanlıklar
Ankara, Republic of Turkey

His Excellency Dr. Ahmet Davutoglu
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Turkiye Cumhuriyeti Disisleri Bakanligi
Dr. Sadik Ahmed Cad. No. 8
Balgat Ankara 06100

His Excellency Nabi Şensoy
Ambassador of Turkey to the United States
Embassy of the Republic of Turkey
2525 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
 Washington, DC 20008

The Honorable Francis J. Ricciardone Jr.
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey
Embassy of the United States of America/
Ankara
110 Atatürk Blvd.
Kavaklidere, 06100
Ankara, Republic of Turkey

• Turkey, US to step up legal case against terror (Hurriyet Daily News)

As reported in the Hurriyet Daily News, ”Ricciardone criticized the fact that in Turkey there were so many lawmakers, non-violent student protestors, professors like Kemal Gürüz and military leaders behind bars for extended periods of time based on unclear charges.”

Kemal Gürüz’s Prison Journal

Also, please click here to download the second installment of Professor Gürüz’ prison diary. He wrote in it, ”Today is December 8, 2012, my 167th day and I am still in prison. The prosecution still has not come up with a formal indictment.”

Related articles

• Mind your own business, US amb. told (rinf.com)
• Turkey Tells US Ambassador to ‘Mind His Business’ (novinite.com)
• US State Department backs Ambassador Ricciardone’s comments (Hurriyet Daily News)

Take Action and Learn More

Sign Fair Trial for Omid Kokabee Petition

Scientists voice support for student to mark two years of his jailing in Iran(blogs.nature.com)

Watch a documentary video made by scientists and students and find links to petitions at Freedom for Omid Kokabee

His Eminence Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i
The Supreme Leader, The Islamic Republic of Iran
c/o H.E. Mr. Mohammad Khazaee
Ambassador of Iran to the United Nations
622 Third Avenue, 34th Floor
New York NY 10017

February 1, 2013

Your Excellency,

On the occasion of the second anniversary of the arrest of Omid Kokabee, an Iranian physics graduate student at the University of Texas/Austin, the Committee of Concerned Scientists (CCS), wants to express its dismay at Kokabee’s arbitrary ten-year jail sentence for espionage. CCS is an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and scientific freedom for colleagues all over the world, Kokabee was arrested in February 2011 during a visit to Iran and incarcerated at Evin Prison without charges or a trial. After Kokabee had spent 15 months in prison, one of them in solitary confinement, his case was brought before a judge in May 2012. The Tehran Revolutionary Court found him guilty of having communicated with a hostile government and having received illegitimate funds. After refusing to make a public confession, Kokabee was sentenced to 10 years in prison. At no time during the trial was he allowed to meet with his lawyer.

Kokabee has repeatedly denied all charges against him and clarified that the contacts alleged in the charges consisted of normal professional interactions with international scholars. He has also stated that the allegedly illegitimate funds he received were publicly accounted for scholarships. Although no conclusive evidence was presented to substantiate the charges, Kokabee’s sentence was upheld by the Court of Appeal in August 2012.

We understand that Kokabee’s health has been deteriorating in prison, but he has been denied necessary medical attention. He received a diagnosis of kidney stones by a prison doctor , but the Iranian government prevented Kokabee from getting the care recommended. The judge who sentenced him added 91 days to the 10-year sentence because Kokabee taught foreign languages and physics to other inmates.

The reported lack of medical care, as well as the long incarceration without charges, long delayed trial, denial of contact between the accused and his lawyer, and upholding of the sentence despite unsubstantiated charges, are violations of basic human rights and international standards of due process, as outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory. They are also violations of Iran’s 1979 constitution, which requires prompt and fair judicial proceedings in Article 32.

On July 14, 2011, we wrote an open letter to ask Your Eminence to correct a grave mistake made by government officials in jailing Omid Kokabee. Our efforts to obtain justice for Kokabee have been supported by the Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association of North America, .the American Physical, Chemical, and Optical Societies, the International Society for Optics and Photonics, Scholars at Risk, Amnesty International, and countless Universities, academics and students around the world.

We call upon you to reopen Kokabee’s case and to take all appropriate measures to secure his immediate release and dismissal of any charges and convictions related to his academic activities, allowing him to resume his studies at the University of Texas. We also urge you to provide Kokabee with access to lawyers, medical attention and family pending his release.

Sincerely,

Eugene Chudnovsky
Alexander Greer
Joel Lebowitz
Walter Reich
Paul Plotz

Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

During 2012, the Committee of Concerned Scientists continued to advocate on behalf of scientists, academics, engineers and physicians. We wrote in concern for more than 23 individuals or groups of individuals, located in 9 countries. We generally addressed our letters (available in full on our website, concernedscientists.org) to the heads of state, as well as to the ministries or local authorities with jurisdiction over the case, when we were able to identify them. We contacted the ambassador of the country involved, as well as our State Department and embassy, where we could hope for their assistance. We continued to work with other human rights organizations to increase our influence.

Fewer cases within our jurisdiction enabled us to write more follow-up letters in each case and to circulate petitions on behalf of the victims of human rights violations. The following summaries will give you an idea of the grave risks our colleagues are taking in exercising their human rights, as well as of the few victories we achieved on their behalf.

BAHRAIN

We were deeply disappointed to learn that the Bahraini Court of Appeals on January 7, 2013, upheld a life sentence in jail for Dr. Abdul Jail Al-Singace, a professor of mechanical engineering who has taught at the University of Bahrain since 1995 and is a leader of the democratic opposition. Lawyers involved in the appeals process have criticized its secrecy and lack of due process. We were and remain concerned with Dr. Al-Singace’ access to medical care because he is partially paralyzed and wheelchair bound. CCS had written numerous letters to the King of Bahrain, the Prime Minister, the Attorney General, and other government officials in protest against a conviction that appeared to be based solely on Al-Singace’s reporting on human rights abuses in Bahrain (see for example our letters of March 25, 2011 and April 29, August 8, and December 19, 2012).

Dr. Masaud Jahromi, Chairman of the Department of Telecommunication Engineering at Ahlia University’s College of Mathematical Sciences and Information Technology, was arrested on April 14, 2011, in the aftermath of protests in Bahrain, and charged with “participation in an unauthorized rally.” He was released on bail in September, pending his trial on January 19, 2012, when the charges against him were dismissed. The court nevertheless imposed a prison sentence (already served) and a fine, all of which he protested. He remained suspended from the University.

Good news: With the assistance of CCS Advisory Board member Jack Minker, who mobilized the computer science community, Jahromi was finally reinstated to his former position.

For following their ethical duty to treat injured protesters in the spring of 2011, 82 nurses and doctors were arrested and disappeared, in clear violation of international treaties and customs. International outcry, including letters from CCS, followed. Bahrain’s Attorney General vacated rulings of the military courts against these medical professionals and ordered them tried in civilian courts. Our latest letter in this case (August 24, 2012) publicly urged President Obama to exert more pressure on Bahrain, an American ally, to dismiss all charges.

Good news: on June 14, 2012, a civilian court retried 20 of the Bahrain health professionals who were convicted by military tribunals and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. Nine of the health professionals had their sentences reduced; two, who remain at large, had their sentences sustained; and nine were acquitted of charges after being found innocent.
According to Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), on November 21, 2012, Bahrain sentenced 23 of the remaining medical professionals to three-month jail suspended terms for felony charges that include supporting the protesters during the early weeks of the uprising. The cases against five other medics were dropped. Of the remaining health professionals who were accused of misdemeanors, 23 have now been convicted by a criminal court, and are sentenced to serve three months in prison. Five have been acquitted.

CHILE

Good news: After 27 years of seeking justice in the 1985 disappearance of her brother Boris Weisfeiler, Olga Weisfeiler announced the indictment of eight Chilean police officers charged with his arrest and with covering up his disappearance. The case of the Pennsylvania State University mathematician was reopened in 2000 after the Clinton administration declassified about 450 secret documents relating to Weisfeiler. The American documents, which were cited in the Chilean indictment, indicated that Weisfeiler might have been handed over to a secretive German religious cult known as Colonia Dignidad, a few miles from where he was last seen. CCS has supported the search for Boris Weisfeiler over many years and will continue to do so though the Weisfeiler fund.

CHINA

We wrote to Representatives of the Fifth Plenary Session of the Eleventh National People’s Congress and Committee Members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference on March 8, 2012, supporting the request of The Tiananmen Mothers, family members of victims of the violent suppression of peaceful protests in June of 1989, asking members of the Congress and of the Conference to open a dialogue to resolve the issues raised by those events. Our letter requested Chinese authorities to investigate the events of 1989, resolve each case under the law, and pursue accountability for those responsible, as the family members petitioned.

We urged Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on May 1, 2012, to grant asylum to Chen Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer who had defended Chinese families forced to undergo unlawful sterilizations or abortions. Chen had sought refuge in the US Embassy in Beijing after having been imprisoned on trumped up charges for four years and held as a prisoner in his home without charge or sentencing for 19 months.

Good news: Chen was granted asylum and is studying law at New York University Law School.

We wrote on April 23, 2012, requesting President Hua Jintao’s protection of the right of academics to travel under The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (to which China is a signatory) on behalf of Gu Chuan, a blogger who had been invited by Columbia University as a Visiting Scholar. According to Scholars at Risk (SAR), Gu Chuan, his wife and their two children attempted to depart for the United States but were prevented from boarding an outbound plane from Beijing. Gu Chuan’s passport, including his US visa, was confiscated. Gu Chuan’s apartment bloc experienced increased police presence at the time of this incident. In our letter to Chinese authorities, we said that the apparent restriction on Gu Chuan’s travel suggests serious concerns not only about his ability to engage with colleagues in his field, but also about intimidation of intellectuals generally.

Good News: In July 2012, Gu Chuan was finally able to leave China and take up his position as visiting scholar in the US.

CUBA

CCS publicly expressed shock and sadness at the death of Wilmar Villar Mendoza, a 31-year old human rights activist, who was beaten and arrested following a public peaceful protest on November 14, 2011. Villar was sentenced to four years in prison. He began a hunger strike in the Prison of Aguadores on November 25, 2011 to protest the false accusations that led to his incarceration and died on January 18, 2012 after organ failure. We reiterated our concern about Cuba’s continuing actions in violation of the human rights of its citizens and of their freedom from cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment in jail.

IRAN

On his return to his native Iran last winter, Omid Kokabee, a graduate student in optics at the University of Texas, was arrested and accused of “communicating with a hostile government” and of “illegitimate earnings.” CCS wrote an open letter in the magazine Nature to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei in May, 2012, requesting Kokabee’s release. CCS assured the Iranian authorities that Omid Kokabee’s professors and fellow students all confirm that he was dedicated to his studies and refrained from engaging in politics. In October of 2012, Kokabee was sentenced to 10 years in jail for “communicating with a hostile government,” after a group trial of 10 or 15 people. While the other accused had confessed under pressure on Iranian television, Kokabee has steadfastly denied all charges since he was first imprisoned. According to reports, Kokabee never had access to a lawyer and could only submit a written statement in his defense.

In June, 2012, CCS transmitted a petition, signed by 450 students and academics around the world, urging a pardon for Kokabee. CCS had also alerted the US State Department of the impact of Kokabee’s arrest and sentence on many Iranian students enrolled in US universities.

Update: In November of 2012, according to Kokabee’s attorney, a new charge was filed adding an additional 91 days to Kokabee’s ten-year sentence for earning money after fellow inmates paid Kokabee for teaching them foreign languages and physics. CCS has been participating in the efforts of students and faculty at the University of Texas on behalf of Kokabee by organizing and attending meetings at universities in the US and in Spain.

On March 19, 2012, we wrote in grave concern for Professor Abdolreza Ghanbari who had completed a PhD in Persian language and literature and taught this subject. We understand that his only political activity was to belong to a trade union that had been dissolved in 2007. Ghanbari was sentenced to death on January 30, 2010 on charges of “enmity against God” for allegedly participating in protests on the holiday of Ashura in December 2009. We further understand that the Tehran Appeals Court upheld Professor Ghanbari’s death sentence in April 2010 and the Commission of Justice in Tehran rejected his request for pardon on February 28, 2012. Ghanbari’s lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, is serving a six-year prison sentence and unable to defend him.

According to an August 21, 2012 press release by the US Department of State, 36 Iranian universities have banned Iranian women students from 77 critical fields of study. These include nuclear physics, computer science, electrical engineering, industrial engineering and business management. We wrote to Iranian authorities asking them to rescind this decree, which excludes women – who constitute a majority of all university students in Iran – from educational opportunities, as well as from employment in the fields covered by the decree, solely on the basis of their gender. We cited the guarantee in Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (to which Iran is a party) of the right of all to education, including higher education. Article 15 of the same Covenant guarantees to all the rights to the benefits of science.

Ramin Zibaei, a scholar of psychology and dean at the Baha’i Institute of Higher Education (BIHE) in Tehran, was arrested in May 2011, along with more than a dozen BIHE staff and faculty. We understand that he has remained detained since, and that he has been denied access to legal counsel and family. CCS wrote on behalf of Zibaei in September of 2011. We respectfully urged authorities to ensure that Iran’s obligations under international law are upheld with regard to Zibaei and his colleagues at the BIHE and, pending his earliest release, to guarantee his well being and to ensure that he is granted access to family, legal representation of his choosing, and medical treatment.

Update: An appellate court upheld in February 2012 Zibaei’s sentence to four years in prison on charges related to his academic activities at BIHE.

Abdolfatah Soltani is an internationally respected human rights lawyer and, with Nobel Prize-winner Shirin Ebadi, co-founder of the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran. According to his daughter, Maede Soltani, in June of 2012, Soltani was sentenced to imprisonment for 13 years and banned for 20 years from exercising his profession. Soltani had previously been sentenced to 18 years on various charges including co-founding the Center for Human Rights Defenders, and endangering national security. The appeals court reduced his sentence to 13 years but upheld his transfer from Tehran’s Evin Prison to a prison in the remote city of Borazjan. We joined other international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and the Bar Association of the City of New York, in urging Ayatollah Khamenei on June 29, 2012, to overturn Soltani’s prison sentence and release him immediately and unconditionally.

CCS joined Reporters without Borders in urging Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in December, 2012, to overturn the harsh and degrading sentence given to Bahman Ahamdi Amouee, an Iranian economist and journalist, particularly with respect to the degrading punishment by lashes. Amouee was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison and 34 lashes for “anti-state activities.” He has been in prison since 2009 and in 2012 denied visits from his family and legal counsel. According to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, over 120 journalists requested his release.

RUSSIA

On June 20, 2012, Drs Svytoslav Bobyshev and Yevgeny Afanasyev, professors at Baltic State Technical University in St. Petersburg, were sentenced to 12 years in jail in a trial held behind closed doors for spying and passing state secrets to Chinese intelligence officers concerning Russia’s Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile. The professors have denied the charges and plan to appeal their sentences. These accusations stem from a cooperative relationship between Baltic State Technical University and Harbin Engineering University in China, which allowed the professors to give lectures at the Chinese university. According to the Russian Committee for the Defense of Scientists, they are victims of “spy mania.” CCS wrote to Russian authorities on July 5, 2012, to protest Bobychev and Afansyev’s two-year pretrial detention and closed-door trial as contravening international standards of due process, fair trial and detention.

Good news: A Siberian court in November 2012 has finally granted parole to a Russian physicist who has spent 11 years in jail for alleged espionage and embezzling of funds. If no appeal is filed, Valentin Danilov could be released as early as next week. Danilov headed the Thermo-Physics Center at Krasnoyarsk State Technical University in Siberia before he was arrested in 2001 on charges of selling classified satellite technology to a Chinese company. He was acquitted of all charges in 2003 but one year later a new jury overturned the decision and sentenced him to 14 years in prison, later reduced by one year. As a researcher, Danilov had investigated effects of solar activity on space satellites. He has always maintained that the satellite device in question was unclassified technology that had been public knowledge for many years. CCS had advocated on behalf of Danilov for a number of years after his arrest.

Drs. Suren Gazaryan, a zoologist and member of the Russian Academy of Science, and Evgeny Vitishko, a geologist, belong to the Environmental Watch of the North Caucasus, a group concerned with the preservation of the Russian environment. During protests concerning threats to a protected forest, the protesters admittedly damaged a fence around a compound. On March 13, 2012, the compound’s guards beat both Gazaryan and his lawyer Victor Dutlov. In April, Gazaryan was charged with intentional destruction of property in the amount of 119,000 rubles, an amount far in excess of the damage, according to Gazaryan’s lawyer. Gazaryan also faced a criminal conviction of up to five years in jail and an additional charge of injuring the guards who allegedly beat him. We wrote on May 9, 2012, to local and federal authorities to inquire about what appears to be intimidation to prevent expression of opinion.

Update: Gazaryan’s three-year sentence on the criminal charge was suspended on appeal. However, on August 2, 2012, Gazaryan was again arrested, this time on the charge of threatening to murder a security guard at a dacha on the Cape of Idokapas. Gazaryan denies the allegations against him. According to Environmental Watch, Gazaryan was carrying out a legitimate inspection of a pier on a public shore being constructed in the Glendzhik area. We wrote to President Putin in December of 2012 that we had reason to believe that the actions of the authorities were designed to deter and intimidate Dr. Gazaryan and others from engaging in protests against actions that they believe violate Russian law. We urged Russian authorities to investigate the circumstances of both these cases.

SUDAN

According to Amnesty International, Mohammed Salah Mohammed was arrested in Khartoum, a few days after he joined peaceful protests in June of 2012. A student at the University of Khartoum’s Faculty of Science, Mohammed is the spokesperson of the Student Democratic Front at the university and the President of the Nubians’ regional student association. CCS wrote to the Minister of the Interior on July 24, 2012, in concern that he was being held without charge and at serious risk of torture and ill treatment, according to Amnesty International and to reports from family members who visited him in jail. Mohammed was in particular danger because he suffers from chronic kidney disease and requires medical attention.

Good news: Mohammed was released on August 10, 2012.

TURKEY

Dr. Halil Kemal Gürüz, a chemical engineer, education administrator, retired professor, and former university rector, was arrested for his supposed role in the 1997 alleged conspiracy against Turkey’s first Islamic-led government, although he was already out on bail based on 2009 charges of involvement in the same conspiracy. On September 2, 2012, we learned from Professor Gürüz’ family members that he had suffered chest pains in his prison cell. He was transferred to intensive care in a hospital and an angiography was performed for blockage of one of his arteries. He is now back in prison. We wrote on July 19 and again on September 6, 2012, expressing deep concern that continued imprisonment presents serious threats to a man of his age and condition. We publicized a petition on behalf of Gürüz on our website and we are publishing his prison diaries, giving readers an insight into Turkish detention.

Good news: CCS welcomes the news from Scholars at Risk informing us that Professor Busra Ersanli of Turkey was released from prison on Friday, July 13, 2012. However, charges against Dr. Ersanli remain and that the trial will continue on October 1. Ersanli, a professor of Political Science and International Relations at Marmara University in Istanbul, was arrested on October 28, 2011, on charges of belonging to a terrorist organization. This charge reflects the allegation that an organization that she belongs to is indirectly and by association linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party, which is banned in Turkey – an allegation Ersanli denies. CCS, in a November 30, 2011 letter to the President of Turkey, had protested her arrest based on her indirect association with organizations that allegedly have links to terrorists.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Dr. Cyril Karabus, a former professor of pediatrics and eminent South African pediatrician and oncologist, was arrested on August 18, 2012 while in transit in Dubai from Canada to South Africa. He was charged with the death of a child on whom he operated ten years ago at the Sheikh Khalifa Medical Center in Abu Dhabi. The pediatric cancer patient Dr. Karabus treated later died later of leukemia. Although an initial conviction of Dr. Karabus, on manslaughter charges (about which he had never been notified) had been overturned, he will now be tried again on the same charges. We strongly urged UAR authorities on October 2, 2012 to remedy this evident miscarriage of justice in the case of Dr. Karabus.

Good News: On Oct. 11, Dr. Karabus, who is 78 years old and depends on a pacemaker for his heart, was released on bail pending trial.

Executive Director’s Note:

I am happy to continue the past practice of expressing gratitude for the unstinting assistance and wise counsel provided throughout the year by the co-chairs of the Committee of Concerned Scientists – Eugene Chudnovsky, Alexander Greer, Joel Lebowitz, Paul Plotz, and Walter Reich. This report is the result of our collaborative effort.

Sophie Cook, Executive Director, CCS