Photo credits: CEU On June 17th, 2023, Endangered Scholars Worldwide learned that despite his pardon and release by the President of Egypt on July 29th, 2022, Ahmed Samir Santawy, a graduate anthropology student at the Central European University (CEU), has been placed under a travel ban. After being imprisoned for 18 months for his academic research on women’s reproductive rights and his alleged criticisms of the Egyptian government’s human rights violations, this travel ban has prevented Santawy from returning to CEU in Vienna and completing his studies. He has not been able to graduate with his master’s degree with his cohort. Read about our previous coverage of this case here. Endangered Scholars Worldwide condemns the unlawful travel ban and incarceration of Santawy and other students, scholars, and researchers by Egyptian authorities, and joins CEU and Amnesty International in calling the Egyptian authorities to revoke this arbitrary travel ban on Ahmed Santawy. ESW calls on all international organizations devoted to the promotion of human rights and academic freedom to strongly demand the revocation of Santawy’s travel ban and call on the Egyptian authorities to respect and protect the right to freedom of movement.

Belarusian human rights activist Nasta Loika || Photo credit: COE On June 20, 2023, the Minsk City Court sentenced Anastasia (Nasta) Loika, civil society activist and human rights educator, to seven years in general security prison on charges of inciting “racial, national, religious or other social enmity or discord,” under the Article 130 of the Belarusian criminal code. The accusations were based on Loika’s participation in a 2018 report on human rights violations by the law enforcement against the government crackdowns against democratic opposition and civil society in Belarus. Loika is a prominent Belarusian human rights educator and women’s rights activist. Her work analyzes repressive laws and advocates for immigrant and refugee rights in Belarus. She was first detained on 6 September, 2022, near the Minsk City Court, where she was present in support of human rights defender and European Humanities University (EHU) student Marfa Rabkova, who was sentenced that day to 15 years in prison. Loika was temporarily released on 5 October, 2022, only to be arrested again on 28 October. During the 58 days of administrative arrest, Nasta was tortured and denied medical care or legal counsel. Endangered Scholars Worldwide (ESW) condemns the sentencing and unjustifiable harsh treatment of Nasta Loika, alongside other scholars, students, and civil society activists, who continue to struggle for freedom and democracy. ESW joins 16 international and Belarusian human rights organizations, which calls on the Lukashenko government to immediately release Loika and ensure her well-being and access to proper medical care, legal counsel, and family. We remain deeply concerned about the continual violations perpetuated by the Belarusian authorities against the rights of students and academics who remain committed to justice and democracy, and we condemn the arbitrary detention and inhumane incarceration of all who exercised their civic rights and liberties by participating in peaceful democratic protests. ESW calls upon all international organizations, academic and professional associations, and other groups and individuals devoted to the promotion and defense of human rights and academic freedom to strongly protest and condemn the actions of Lukashenko’s regime; and to appeal for Loika’s immediate and unconditional release. Previous articles on Belarusian violations of academic freedom and injustice by ESW can be found here. Please send appeals to the following: The Administration of the President Of the Republic of Belarus Reception of Citizens and Representatives of Legal Entities Residence of the President 38 Karl Marx Street Minsk, Belarus Email: contract@president.gov.by Valentin Rybakov Permanent Representative of Belarus to the United Nations Permanent Mission of Belarus to UN 136 E 67th Street, 4th Fl. New York, NY 10065 Telephone: (212) 535-3420 Fax: (212) 734-4810 E-mail: usaun@mfa.gov.by https://www.article19.org/resources/belarus-release-rights-defender-nasta-lojka-now/ https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/woman-human-rights-defender-nasta-loika-sentenced-seven-years-prison https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/06/21/belarus-free-rights-defender

Students of Art University in Tehran. Photo credits: NCRI Women’s Committee As the Women, Life, Freedom protests enters into its ninth month, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), a US-based non-governmental organization, has reported on the details of the renewed crackdown on those peacefully protesting the government’s restrictive policies at higher education institutions. Ever since the Women, Life, Freedom protests started in September 2022, the Iranian Islamic Republic (IRI) authorities have increased pressure on students, scholars, and higher education institutions, arbitrarily arresting over 720 students, most detained without access to legal representation. University officials and committees are now operating as an extension of the repressive Iranian regime to suppress peacefully protesting students and academic staff. Students who attended the protests or displayed sympathy with the protestors were academically penalized by restricting access to university campuses, by issuing failing grades in their coursework, in addition to suspensions. The CHRI also notes a new trend in the use of banishments for the student protestors by university committees. In addition to suspensions and other academic punitive measures, many students are also “banished.” Banishments are used by the Iranian courts to exile an individual to a remote village in order to isolate them from their community and family. The disciplinary hearings set up by the university committees have ruled unfairly by not allowing students and staff to speak or defend their case. In some cases, rulings against students have been issued in absentia. The universities have also begun to reinforce religious dress codes. Since March 2023, Tehran University of Science and Technology has scheduled disciplinary hearings for 21 students who violated the dress code. Moreover, 11 professors have been scheduled for disciplinary hearings for signing a statement against the policing of female students on campus. Officials at Al-Zahra University have suspended 35 women who refused to wear the hijab. On June 17th, 10 individuals from a group of students who had gathered for a peaceful sit-in to protest this renewed enforcement on the wearing of the hijab were detained arbitrarily by state security at Art University of Tehran. Subsequently, students throughout Iran have issued statements in support of the detainees, condemning the state’s actions, and continuing to oppose the state’s restrictive policies. Endangered Scholars Worldwide stands in solidarity with those who strive for freedom and safety across the world and now especially with the protestors in Iran. We condemn the Iranian government’s systematic and recurrent breaches of international human rights law and the ill-treatment of protesters. We call upon all international organizations and academic and professional associations devoted to the promotion and defense of human rights to join us in urging the Iranian government to end this ideologically motivated and inhumane crackdown on university campuses, disproportionately targeting women and young girls. We ask for the international community’s full attention and to make all efforts to get the Iranian government to honor their obligations under international humanitarian law and human rights treaties, including to ensuring free and unhindered humanitarian access to people in need, and the revoking of the death sentences, which have been issued following illegitimate trials. Further reading and sources: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-university-campus-pressure-students-dress-code/32447423.html https://iranhumanrights.org/2023/06/students-arrested-and-banished-professors-fired-in-latest-state-crackdown-in-iran/ https://iranhumanrights.org/2023/06/students-across-iran-say-no-to-forced-hijab/

Photo credits: Human Rights Watch On May 5th, 2023, Endangered Scholars Worldwide learned that Salah Soltan, an Egyptian legal scholar and US permanent resident, has been deprived of his right to life-saving healthcare in the country’s notorious Badr 1 prison. Soltan was arrested in 2013 and in 2017 was sentenced to life imprisonment in a mass trial. He suffers from heart and liver diseases, diabetes, and Hepatitis C among other complex health issues. Human Rights Watch has warned that this deliberate denial of adequate healthcare may amount to torture. Soltan, a former professor of Islamic Law at Cairo University, also founded and served as president of the Islamic American University in Michigan from 1999 to 2004. He lived and worked for more than 10 years in the United States before his arrest in 2013 for opposing the ousting of the democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi. In 2018, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared his arrest and incarceration as arbitrary because no credible evidence was presented and furthermore determined that his rights of political participation, expression, and speech were violated. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, among other human rights groups, believe that the arrest was also in retaliation to his son’s human rights advocacy work. Soltan’s family have claimed that he was held incommunicado in 2017 multiple times and for several months and filed a lawsuit against the former Egyptian prime minister for his role in Sultan’s alleged torture in 2013. He has been held in solitary confinement since September 2022 in Badr prison. Badr 1 prison is located in the Badr prison complex, 70 kilometers outside Cairo. The prison complex is among the 28 new prisons built under the instruction of President Sisi. Badr prison is particularly notorious for housing high-profile political prisoners. The conditions of the prison have led to mass hunger strikes and numerous deaths. The prisoners are reportedly subjected to inadequate healthcare, bans on family visits, solitary confinement, and torture, including constant surveillance and deprivation of food and water. Endangered Scholars Worldwide is alarmed and deeply concerned with the conditions under which Soltan and other political prisoners are being held in Egypt. ESW joins the 51 human rights organizations to urge the Egyptian authorities to vacate the sentence of the arbitrarily detained activist and to grant him immediate release. We further call on the Egyptian government to investigate the deplorable conditions and the allegations of abuse in Badr prison that Soltan and other political prisoners have been subjected to, and to fulfill its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that enshrines the right to life and of which Egypt is a signatory. Sources and Further Reading: https://www.jurist.org/news/2023/05/human-rights-organizations-urge-cairo-to-release-arbitrarily-detained-islamic-law-scholar/ https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/egypt-why-inmates-dying-model-prison-badr https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/egypts-treatment-jailed-detainee-may-amount-torture-rights-groups-say https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/11/us-senate-panel-raises-concern-over-egyptian-detainees-health

Photo credit: Getty Images On June 2, 2023, Endangered Scholars Worldwide learned that Dr. Maâti Monjib, who is a political analyst, human rights activist, and historian, was suspended without pay from his position at the University of Mohammed V in Rabat, Morocco. He is also the coordinator of the Middle East Citizens’ Assembly (MECA) Morocco branch, founder and director of the Ibn Rochd Center for Studies and Communication in Rabat, and a founding member of the 20 February Movement Support Council, an initiative which sought legal and institutional reform in Morocco during the Arab Spring. Dr. Monjib was abducted and unlawfully incarcerated for three months in 2020, and was provisionally released in 2021, in response to the international pressure on human rights violations in the country. His provisional release included the confiscation of his assets and passport. Endangered Scholars Worldwide deeply condemns the illegal and illegitimate restriction of mobility and right to work of scholars, students, and researchers in Morocco. We call upon the Moroccan authorities to end their mistreatment of Maati Monjib and others who were unlawfully incarcerated or persecuted, to reinstate Dr. Monjib to his faculty position, and lift the restrictions on his rights to gainful employment, scholarly research, international travel, and civic activities. We join the MESA community in support of Dr. Monjib. For more, please see the MESA letter here.

The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) has penned their fourth letter to Moroccan authorities condemning the ongoing mistreatment of Dr. Maati Monjib, a Moroccan scholar of history and human rights activist. Most recently on March 1, 2023, Monjib was suspended from his professorship at Mohammed V University. The suspension comes after years of harassment and retribution from the Moroccan government. According to MESA, Monjib’s “bank account and other assets have been frozen, and he has been denied the right to travel, to see his family, seek medical attention or pursue his professional activities abroad.” We at Endangered Scholars Worldwide (ESW) call upon all international organizations, academic and professional associations, and other groups and individuals devoted to the promotion and defense of human rights and academic freedom to read, sign, and circulate MESA’s letter regarding Dr. Maati Monjib. The letter is linked below. MESA Letter: “Letter protesting ongoing mistreatment of Moroccan scholar, Prof. Maati Monjib”

On April 12, 2022, the University of Manouba located in Tunis, Tunisia determined it would withdraw the title of emeritus professor from Habib Kazdaghli, a scholar of history and former dean of the university’s faculty of letters, arts, and humanities. The administrative decision was intended to rebuke Kazdaghli for participating alongside an Israeli panelist, Haïm Saadoun, at an international symposium organized by the French-founded Tunisian Jewish History Society. Relations between Tunisia and Israel have remained fraught under current President Kais Saied’s rule, who has repudiated any efforts to “normalize” relations with Israel and has labeled attempts to do so as “high treason” largely because of Tunisia’s historically sympathetic and supportive relationship with the Palestinian people. However, this defense has resulted in a hostile and repressive crackdown on Tunisian-Israeli ties that resemble larger governmental efforts to undemocratically and aggressively threaten human rights. In recent years, Tunisian authorities have arrested dozens of journalists, politicians, and activists for “speech-related offences” that have criticized Saied and the Tunisian military, signaling worrying conditions for Tunisian democracy and academic freedom amid an increase in the “repression of dissent.” In step with Saied’s rule, when the University of Manouba leadership discovered a Facebook post affirming the Israeli scholar’s involvement in the conference, they penned an indignant letter to Kazdaghli accusing him of “organizing meetings behind the scenes'' to enable the “normalization of relations with Israel” and discouraged him from attending the event. Kazdaghli, however, went ahead with his planned participation, undeterred by the administration’s threats. Kazdaghli has appealed the decision to the Ministry of Education but has yet to receive a response. The scholar has emphasized his own anti-colonialist position by stating his opposition to the “Israeli settler project,” but has denounced extremist Tunisian political positions that propagate anti-Semitism and repress Israeli voices. Endangered Scholars Worldwide (ESW) forcefully condemns the unjust withdrawal of Kazdaghli’s title because of his academic participation alongside an Israeli scholar. The Tunisian government’s attempts to censor international dialogue and discriminate against the nationalities and ethnicities of scholars only serve to suppress academic freedom and infringe on the basic freedoms of speech and assembly. We call upon all international organizations, academic and professional associations, and other groups and individuals devoted to the promotion and defense of human rights and academic freedom to strongly protest the University of Manouba’s decision and to ask for the reinstatement of Kazdaghli’s title as emeritus professor. Please send appeals to the following: Mohamed Ali Boughdiri Minister of Education of Tunisia Boulevard Bab Bnet Tunis, 1030 TN Email: med@ministeres.tn Phone: (216-71) 568 768 Chokri El Mabkhout President of the University of Manouba Email: mail@uma.rnu.tn Phone: +21671601350

In February 2023, the Belarusian Students’ Association (BSA), an organization that represents the unions of 15 Belarusian universities, published an extensive report detailing the state of academic freedom and autonomy of higher education in the year 2022. The report describes the ongoing state-sponsored persecution of Belarusian students and scholars who criticize President Lukashenko’s regime, particularly over the state’s support of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Facing repression in Belarus and stymied scholarship opportunities abroad due to sanctions imposed by neighboring states, students and scholars both in Belarus and in exile have been left with little recourse to freely carry out their studies and continue their academic careers. President Lukashenko’s decades long rule has cast a shadow over the prospects for democracy and academic freedom in Belarus, especially since the leader’s most recent electoral victory in 2020. Lukashenko’s re-election was ridden with allegations of corruption and election fraud, and the outpouring of protests calling for democratic rule in the aftermath were met with widespread crackdowns that persist even two years later.[1] BSA’s report documents how over the course of 2022, dozens of students, as well as professors, continue to be expelled, arrested, and harshly sentenced for even minor forms of protest activity. For instance, Raman Karpuk, a first-year university student, was handed a three-year sentence in a penal colony for merely mailing leaflets asking that election workers count votes honestly. Lukashenko has also treated critiques of President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s war in Ukraine as “damaging to national interests” and has egregiously punished scholars and students who have expressed solidarity with Ukraine since the invasion began in February 2022.[2] Academic and civic activists have been arrested and given years-long prison sentences for speaking out against Belarusian policies that have allowed Russian troops to strategically use Belarusian territory and launch missiles from the state’s borders.[3] BSA reports that when the war first began, one student was expelled from his university for arriving at a polling station with a Ukrainian flag on his shoulders. Danuta Perednya, a twenty-year-old university student, was also deemed a “terrorist” threat and sentenced to six years in prison for reposting a message online that criticized both Lukashenko and Putin.[4] Along with the extensive restrictions on the freedoms of speech, assembly, and association faced in their home country, Belarusian students have also struggled to continue their education elsewhere. Nearby countries have developed restrictive visa policies as part of the sanctions imposed on Belarus by the European Union, implemented to punish Belarus for its role in supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine. According to BSA, Tallinn University, the University of Tartu, and Tallinn Technical University refused to enroll any Belarusian students in the 2022-2023 academic year, with certain status exceptions. In the summer of 2022, the Czech Republic also extended a ban on visas to Belarusian citizens, including students, so that only Belarusians with family members in the Czech Republic were allowed entry. Endangered Scholars Worldwide (ESW) remains deeply concerned about the deteriorating status of academic freedom in Belarus along with unjustifiable repression of Belarusian scholars, students, and civic activists. We condemn the regime’s use of harsh and arbitrary punishments against students and scholars who have called for democracy and peace in nonviolent demonstrations and support BSA’s calls for the cessation of the state’s authoritarian practices and weaponization of violence and fear mongering. ESW also calls upon all international organizations, academic and professional associations, and other groups and individuals devoted to the promotion and defense of human rights and academic freedom to strongly protest the actions of Lukashenko’s undemocratic regime; to appeal for the release of unjustly detained students and scholars; and to share BSA’s report intended to expose the widespread political repression faced by Belarusian students and scholars. Please send appeals on behalf of endangered scholars and students to the following: Pavel Shidlovsky Charge d’Affaires Embassy of the Republic of Belarus to the United States 1619 New Hampshire Avenue NW Washington, DC 20009 Phone: (202)-986-1606 Email: usa@mfa.gov.by Valentin Rybakov Permanent Representative of Belarus to the United Nations Permanent Mission of Belarus to UN 136 E 67th Street, 4th Fl. New York, NY 10065 Telephone: (212) 535-3420 Fax: (212) 734-4810 E-mail: usaun@mfa.gov.by [1] “Belarus: Country Profile.” Freedom House. 2023. [2] Ryan Fahey and Will Stewart. “Student, 20, who dared to criticise Vladimir Putin's Ukraine war jailed for SIX years.” Mirror. July 6 2022. [3] Farai Mutsaka. “Lukashenko: Belarus willing to offer more help to Russia.” AP News. January 31, 2023. [4] Ryan Fahey and Will Stewart. Ibid.

Taj Mahal, Agra, India In early April of 2023, the right to education and freedom of information took another hit in India. The right-wing and Hindu nationalist, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led Indian government has been accused of editing its history in sociology, political science, and history textbooks from grades 6-12 as part of its Hindu nationalist agenda. References removed include caste-based discrimination and the Dalit resistance movement; the 2002 Gujarat riots, during which the current PM Modi was Chief Minister of Gujarat and where Muslims were the main targets of violence; and the connection of Hindu extremism to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Also removed were the sections on the Mughal Empire, which had ruled the Indian region for over 300 years. The Mughals were majority Muslim rulers who greatly shaped modern India. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) prepares the public education curriculum and textbooks, which are used by approximately 20,000 schools across the country. According to the NCERT director, the removal of these topics was to reduce the workload for students. The censorship has been praised by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing paramilitary group, of which the assassin of Gandhi was a member. As elections are approaching, many academics see this censorship as a political move to gain majority Hindu support. Endangered Scholars Worldwide sees these actions as an unacceptable attack on the freedom of information and condemns Modi’s nationalist government’s move to exclude the diverse history of the country and the continent at large from school textbooks as means of furthering his nationalist agenda. ESW calls on NCERT to restore the references and chapters removed and to provide the students with a more accurate description of India’s history. Sources and further reading: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/04/06/india-textbooks-muslim-history-changes/ https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/06/world/asia/india-textbooks-changes.html https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/06/indian-government-accused-of-rewriting-history-after-edits-to-schoolbooks https://time.com/6269349/india-textbook-changes-controversy-hindu-nationalism/

Photo credit: Duvar English In the aftermath of the two earthquakes that hit Southeastern Turkey and Northern Syria on February 6, 2023, the Turkish government has prioritized quelling dissent instead of delivering the most needed emergency relief aid to the eleven provinces hit by the earthquake. On February 28, 2023, Turkish police arrested Övgün Ahmet Ercan, a renowned professor of geophysics at Istanbul Technical University, on charges of inciting hatred and spreading fake news on social media. Ercan was taken into custody in the eastern city of Elazig, due to his social media posts that criticized the single-man rule and blamed the government for its poor and slow response to the disaster, including allegations of rape and physical violence incidents among the survivors until the military arrived at the disaster zone 72 hours later. The post that resulted in Ercan’s detention was not the first time in which he criticized the government’s response to the humanitarian crisis. After his statement was taken at the police station, Ercan was transferred to Malatya for court proceedings, where he was released under judicial control with an international travel ban. We at the Endangered Scholars Worldwide would like to express our deepest sympathy for all those affected by the devastating earthquake that killed, maimed, and displaced thousands upon thousands of people in Turkey and Syria. ESW condemns the Turkish government’s use of judicial mechanisms to intimidate the opposition and quell the dissent in the aftermath of the disaster. The Turkish government’s attacks on professional organizations and scholars criminalize freedoms of speech and of association, as well as it discredits scientific knowledge. ESW urges the Turkish authorities to respect and guarantee the autonomy of scholarly knowledge and freedom of speech in Turkey and to implement the provisions and principles of human rights as specified in international conventions and treaties, and to drop any charges against the accused arising from their nonviolent exercise of the rights to expression, association, and assembly.

Awad al-Qarni. Photo credits: Middle East Eye On January 15th, 2023, The Guardian revealed that Saudi prosecutors are seeking death penalty for legal scholar, Awad al-Qarni. Al-Qarni has been charged with domestic terrorism and using social media to share ‘hostile’ news of the regime. He has also been accused of joining and supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, which Saudi Arabia views as a threat to its regime and has lobbied the international community to label it a terrorist organization. Al-Qarni has a large social media following, over 2 million followers on Twitter and more on other encrypted platforms including WhatsApp and Telegram, which were also involved in the indictment against him. Al-Qarni is regarded as a prominent and respected legal scholar by the academic community and has been the target of a smear campaign by state-controlled media, the Arab News. He has held multiple positions at Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh and the King Khalid University in Abha. He has written multiple books on Islamic Jurisprudence and has appeared on numerous television programs. Al-Qarni has been an open critic of the invasion of Iraq and the war on terror, and has voiced his support of the Palestinian people, stances which oppose the state’s position on these issues. Al-Qarni was arrested in September 2017, when Mohammad Bin Salman, the now de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, was appointed crown prince by his father, King Salman. Mohammad bin Salman has criminalized the use of social media and has cracked down on a number of individuals for using social media and expressing their views, including the sentencing to 34 years in prison of a University of Leeds PhD student and mother of two, Salma al-Shehab. The regime, under the crown prince, has invested millions in creating an international image of progress and modernity, and has undertaken sweeping reforms, such as permitting women to drive and allowing public entertainment events. Yet, it continues to persecute those who have a large media following and use their platforms to express their views, including women’s rights activists, human rights activists, prominent scholars, businessmen, and other royal family members. Endangered Scholars Worldwide calls for the immediate release of Awad al-Qarni and all others imprisoned on false charges of domestic terrorism for merely expressing their views, such as Salma al-Shehab. We at the ESW have been monitoring the ongoing detentions of scholars and activists in Saudi Arabia for years and stand by the detained activists. ESW calls on the international community to join us and Middle East Studies Association in condemning the arbitrary arrest of activists and scholars and calls on the Saudi government to honor the treaties they are signatories to, ensuring the rights of free speech, free expression, and free association. Sources: https://mesana.org/advocacy/committee-on-academic-freedom/2023/03/09/letter-protesting-the-ongoing-incarceration-of-professor-awad-al-qarni https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/15/saudi-arabian-academic-on-death-row-for-using-twitter-and-whatsapp

Photo credits: RadioFreeEurope In February of 2023, when the Iranian government released some prisoners to appease the Woman, Life, Freedom protests that have entered into their sixth month, sociologist and journalist Saeed Madani was not one of them. The Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran found the sociologist Madani guilty of “propaganda” and forming anti-regime groups in December 2022, and sentenced him to nine years in the infamous Evin prison. Madani is a senior researcher and faculty member at Tehran University and has conducted research on numerous social issues of Iranian society, including civil society, social movements, social welfare, violence against women, and child abuse. In addition to banning many of his books, the Islamic Republic officials have also prevented him from holding a permanent position at academic institutions. After serving four years of a six-year sentence in Evin prison, in 2016, he was exiled to the city of Bandar Abbas. Later, in early 2022, soon before his arrest in May, he was barred from leaving the country to take up a research fellowship at Yale University. While suppressing his research and restraining his fundamental rights and freedoms, the Iranian government recognizes the importance of Madani’s work. Since the beginning of the protests in September, he was consulted by the government, on three separate occasions, while detained in Evin prison, on how to stop the ongoing protests. Madani advocated for the rights of the protestors and advised government officials to give into the popular demands and cease the violent suppression of the protestors. Endangered Scholars Worldwide joins the Middle East Studies Association in in demanding the immediate release of Saeed Madani, and all other protestors, who have been arrested for defending their basic rights and expressing their views. ESW continues to condemn the detention, mistreatment, and killing of protestors in the wake of Mahsa Amini’s death and the Women, Life, Freedom marches. We at the ESW stand in solidarity with those in Iran, who for decades have been living under systematic discrimination, abuse, and oppression of the Islamic Republic and we call upon all international organizations, academic and professional associations, and other groups and individuals devoted to the promotion and defense of human rights and the rule of law to condemn the inhumane actions of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Sources: https://mesana.org/advocacy/committee-on-academic-freedom/2023/01/12/letter-to-iranian-authorities-on-behalf-of-dr.-saeed-madani https://www.hrw.org/blog-feed/iranian-society-under-crackdown#blog-384131 https://www.rferl.org/a/hundreds-iran-activists-sign-letter-condemning-prison-academic/32285246.html