On September 12, 2018 Endangered Scholars Worldwide transmitted a letter of appeal to the Iranian Government and the US Department of State regarding the ongoing detention, persecution, and conviction of XiYue Wang, a 37-year-old United States citizen of Chinese descent. Wang was sentenced to 10 years in prison while researching Iran's Qajar dynasty for his Princeton University PhD and has been detained since August 2016 by the Islamic Republic of Iran on accusation of “archi

The US Environmental Protection Agency has blocked three scheduled discussions of climate change by agency scientists at a conference on Monday in Rhode Island, according to reporting by the New York Times. The last-minute cancellation was reported Sunday, the day before the start of the State of the Narragansett Bay and its Watershed Workshop in Providence, Rhode Island, where scientists are to gather to discuss the health of Narragansett Bay. The conference’s hosting organi

On September 5, 2017, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) is being rescinded. As numerous accounts indicate, the majority of DACA recipients are students who are enrolled in higher education institutions. As we have said in previous statements, ending DACA will drastically disrupt the lives of these students who willingly came forward to register with the federal government. As an organization committed to

Friends of China’s most famous political prisoner, the Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo, have issued a plea to Chinese authorities to be allowed one final audience with the dying activist. The Chinese democracy campaigner, who was diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer in May after more than seven years in prison, appears to be nearing the end of his life. Family friends and doctors said on Thursday the 61-year-old’s condition had worsened and he was close to death. Liu is reportedl

It has been over eight months since Ethiopian security forces arrested opposition leader Professor Merera Gudina upon his return to the country following his participation in a hearing at the European parliament about the crisis in his home country. He was arrested on the basis of rendering support to terrorism and attempting to “disrupt constitutional order.” Endangered Scholars Worldwide has followed Gudina's case and made inquiries in an attempt to have him released and ch

Fears grow for two Turkish academics whose health is deteriorating after more than 60 days on hunger strike, PEN International said today. Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça went on hunger strike on March 8, 2017 in the country's capital, Ankara, demanding that their jobs be reinstated. Gülmen and Özakça are two of the 4,811 academics and 40,000 teachers who were dismissed by emergency decree following the coup attempt of July 15, 2016. Under the state of emergency, those dismi

On April 4, 2017, the Hungarian parliament voted in favor of a government plan to regulate foreign-based universities to the degree that might lead to the closure of Central European University (CEU). As we have previously reported, last week, Zoltán Balog, the Minister of Human Resources, submitted a bill to parliament based on claims of “irregularities” found in the operation of foreign-based universities. While it is not specifically named, it has been widely noted that th

Central European University (CEU) expresses its opposition to proposed amendments to Act CCIV of 2011 on National Higher Education, tabled in Hungarian Parliament today. After careful legal study, CEU has concluded that these amendments would make it impossible for the university to continue its operations as an institution of higher education in Budapest, CEU's home for 25 years. CEU is in full conformity with Hungarian law. The proposed legislation targets CEU directly and

As the constitutional referendum that proposes a regime change approaches, the Turkish government continues to silence the democratic opposition through executive decrees. With a new emergency decree issued on February 7, 2017, the Turkish government has dismissed another 4,464 public servants from several state institutions, including but not limited to the ministries of Education, Interior Affairs, and Foreign Affairs, and the Supreme Election Board. Among the 4,464, 330 ac

As the sixth month of the emergency rule ends in Turkey, the government does not seem willing to end its witch-hunt, which has resulted in the dismissal of more than 120,000 civil servants--including nearly 7000 academics--from their jobs and the closure of 15 of the 193 universities across the country. The war against academics in Turkey began long before the coup attempt. On January 10, 2016, a group of scholars calling themselves Academics for Peace signed an open letter c

On January 6, 2017, the Turkish government issued three new emergency decrees that dismissed 8,390 civil servants from their positions in several state institutions, including the ministries of Health and Justice, the Office of Law Enforcement, the Armed Forces, and the Turkish Council of State. 649 academics, along with more than a hundred administrative staff members, lost their positions at several universities. 41 of the dismissed scholars were members of the Academics fo

On October 24, 2016, Endangered Scholars Worldwide and the Committee of Concerned Scientists transmitted a Joint Letter of Appeal to the Turkish government and the US Department of State regarding the ongoing detention, persecution, and conviction of Serkan Golge, a 36-year-old US citizen of Turkish descent who works as a physicist with NASA. In the letter Endangered Scholars Worldwide and the Committee of Concerned Scientists condemn the ongoing detention, persecution, and c

23 Turkish academics who were allegedly using ByLock, a text messaging application, were detained last week as part of a witch-hunt targeting the Gülen movement. Turkish prosecutors claim that ByLock is the top communication tool among members of the Gülen movement, which the government accuses of masterminding the July 15 coup attempt. Critics, however, have blasted the government for detaining thousands simply for using a mobile application. More than 5,070 academics have b

Members of “Academics for Peace” and Education and Science Workers Union (Eğitim-SEN) have been permanently removed from their positions in public higher education institutions. In January 2016 2,218 scholars from Turkey signed a petition titled “We will not be a party to this crime,” also known as the Peace Petition. Since then, the signatories have been subject to heavy pressure and persecution. Hundreds of them have faced criminal and disciplinary investigations, custody,

Homa Hoodfar, a Canadian-Iranian professor who was arrested by Iranian authorities on June 6, has been hospitalized in Iran, according to her family. The 65-year-old scholar travelled to her home country in February, principally for personal reasons; however, she continued her academic research while in the country. Her trip coincided with parliamentary elections during which a record number of women were elected as MPs, mostly allied with the moderate administration of Hassa

Endangered Scholars Worldwide remembers Naqib Khpulwak, a law professor who was killed in an attack on the American University of Afghanistan on August 25. Thirteen people were killed in an attack that began Wednesday evening at the American University of Kabul while another 35 students and nine police officers were injured. Two gunmen were killed after police entered a building hours after the shooting started. A third attacker was killed Wednesday night when he detonated an

Arrest warrants have been issued for 44 academics from Istanbul University, 29 from Selcuk University, and 12 from Abant İzzet Baysal University over FETÖ/PDY probe. On August 19 Turkish prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 85 university academics suspected of links with US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen. 29 academics have been detained so far. A large majority of the detainees are from Istanbul University and Selcuk University, and they include Selcuk University's d

Turkey's Council of Higher Education (YÖK) announced on Friday that a number of academics and administrative staff members at public and private universities have been fired from their positions as part of the government’s investigations into the failed coup. “Legal actions were launched into a total of 5,267 academic personnel from state and private universities, of whom suspension decisions were given for 4,225. Legal actions were launched into a total of 1,545 administrati

Serkan Golge, a 36-year-old NASA physicist of Turkish descent, was arrested on August 6 and formally accused of involvement with the Gulen movement, which is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey. Golge has also been accused of spying for the CIA. As a senior research scientist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Golge has studied the effects of radiation on astronauts aboard the International Space Station since 2013. He has helped create models that predict t

On August 8, twenty professors who previously signed the declaration entitled “We will not be a party to this crime” were suspended from their academic positions at Anadolu University. Ugur Kara of the Law Department commented, “As the dismissals against the Gülen Community are ongoing, they [the Higher Education Board] are intending to involve us, whom they consider a threat or divert people’s attention away.” Endangered Scholars Worldwide is deeply concerned over recent rep