ICTJ In Focus August 2012 Issue 23
Restrictions on Academic Freedom Underscore Events at Conference for Iranian Studies
Press Release — Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
2 August 2012
New Haven, USA; with reporting from Istanbul, Turkey — The ninth biennial conference of the International Society of Iranian Studies (ISIS) began today with a series of panel discussions featuring social scientists, artists and literary scholars who study Iran. This year the ISIS conference was staged in Istanbul, Turkey in the interest of providing accessibility to scholars from the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI), as Turkey is one of the few countries that allows visa-free access for Iranian passport holders. Over seventy scholars from Iran were scheduled to lead or take part in discussions on topics ranging from Iranian court politics in late antiquity to the aesthetics of vocal music in contemporary Iran.
Kayhan, a newspaper under the direct supervision of the office of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the IRI, has published several articles decrying the conference and its organizers in recent weeks. Although the attendees are reputed scholars in the fields of history, sociology, literature, and the anthropology of Iran, Kayhan repeatedly derided the conference as a “Zionist and monarchist” event. As support, Kayhanclaimed that the allegations of Zionism were substantiated by the fact that one of the conference’s 125 scheduled panel discussions was on “Baha’i and Babi Studies”, while another offered an historical perspective on Iran-Israel relations.
Since the propaganda campaign against the conference began two weeks ago, over fifty scholars from Tehran University, Isfahan University, Al Zahra University, Payam Noor University, the Islamic Azad University system, and other institutions cancelled their plans to take part in the ISIS conference and signed a list of boycotters. But some Iran-based scholars still planned to attend the conference. In response, Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor-in-chief of Kayhan, called for the Ministry of Sciences, Research and Technology (which supervises all of Iran’s non-medical institutions of higher learning) “to terminate the presence of [the remaining scholars planning to attend the ISIS conference] in the nation’s universities and institutions of higher learning immediately and without delay.”
Following these events, many of the scholars scheduled to take part in the conference—the largest international gathering of Iranian Studies scholars in the world—chose not to attend at the last minute. The unprecedented campaign of intimidation against Iran-based scholars planning to attend the ninth biennial Iranian Studies conference is part of a larger ongoing crackdown on academic freedom in the IRI which has intensified since the 2005 election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In a related development, social science programs including journalism departments will be abolished in many of Iran’s universities in the coming academic year.
“Restrictions on academic freedom affect all Iranians by stifling intellectual discourse not only between Iranian scholars and the international community, but domestically as well,” said Gissou Nia, Executive Director of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. “The infringement on the freedom of academics to participate in the conference contravenes Iran’s international treaty obligations.”
Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which Iran is a signatory, ensures the rights of all people to take part in cultural life, which includes the right to develop international contacts and cooperation in cultural fields, including education.
For further information, please contact:
Gissou Nia
Executive Director
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
Email: GNia@iranhrdc.org
Phone: (203) 654-9342
Two Military Officials Fired Due to Teddy Bear Invasion in Belarus
By Pearl Rimon
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
MINSK, BELARUS – Belarusian President, Alexander Lukashenko, fired two military officials who allowed Belarus’ airspace to be invaded by teddy bears.
On July 4, a Swedish advertising agency dropped 879 teddy bears wearing parachutes and carrying slogans in support of human rights.
Lukashenko fired air defense chief, Dmitry Pakhmelkin and head of the border guards Igor Rachkovsky due to “not properly carrying out their duties in safeguarding Belarussian national security.” Lukashenko said, “This plane was discovered in time, but why did the (air defense) authorities not intercept the flight? … Come on lads. We are all grown up. The guilty ones have to answer for this.”
Belarussian authorities have arrested a journalism student who posted photos of the teddy bears on his personal website and the real estate agent who offered an apartment to the advertising agency. The two can face up to seven years or prison due to being charged with assisting border violators.
Previously, officials denied that the July 4th incident happened, up until last week where Luashenko called a meeting to reprimand authorities for allowing the event to occur.
Hannah Frey and Thomas Mazetti, the two coordinators behind the act said that it was to show support for human rights activists and to humiliate the country’s military. “Hopefully, we’ve made people more aware in the world and that there will be more people supporting Belarusian people,” Frey said.
Frey and Mazetti’s tedy bear stunt was inspired by similar protests by Belarussian activists, who have been known to arrange stuffed animals in a fashion that appeared to be protesting Lukashenko’s regime.
The teddy bear stunt cost €150,000 ($184,500). The plane took off and landed in southern Lithuana. The plane flew inside the borders of Belarus for 90 minutes.
Lukashenko has been in power since 1994 over the population of 10 million of the former Soviet state.
A similar event happened in the former Soviet Union in 1987. Matthias Rust from Germany took his place into Soviet airspace and landed next to the Kremlin. Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union, fired the defense minister and other top military officials in response.
For further information, please see:
Huffington Post — Belarus Teddy Bear Invasion: Fluffy Bears Bring Bring Down 2 Generals – 02 August 2012
The Independent — Teddy bears defeat Belarus generals – 02 August 2012
Lubbock Online — Teddy bears swoop in with human rights support, bring down two Belarus generals – 01 August 2012
Heinous Killing of Battered Wife Sparks Protest
By Mark McMurray
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
RAMALLAH, West Bank — On Monday, scores of people witnessed a woman having her throat slashed in an open-air Bethlehem market in broad daylight. The prime suspect, the woman’s husband, was arrested at the scene.
Nancy Zaboun, a 27-year-old mother of three, had recently sought a divorce from her abusive husband. According to the Ma’an News Agency, the police reported that her husband had beaten her Sunday evening. When the police arrived at the scene that night, they only asked him to sign a pledge not to beat his wife again. The next day, she was fatally wounded on a path at a market situated near the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus Christ. She was walking on the path after having just attended a hearing in her divorce case from her husband of ten years.
Khaula al-Azraq, director of a counseling center in the West Bank where Zaboun went for assistance, said Shadi Abedallah, Zaboun’s 32-year-old husband, beat his wife regularly. The beatings were so severe at times that Zaboun would have to be hospitalized after the attacks. Despite having repeatedly assaulted his wife, Abedallah was never arrested. Similar to their response to Sunday’s beating, the police would only make Abedallah, himself a former police officer, sign promises not to hit his wife in the future. That makes the response to his behavior even more suspicious.
Almost immediately after their wedding, Abdellah began beating Zaboun. Local authorities reportedly stepped in at some point to resolve the violence, only to later rule the situation a family dispute. Abdel Fattah Hemayel, the district governor of Bethlehem, confirmed the description of the situation by police and the pledges they had Abdellah sign.
The heinous nature of the attack has caused a strong reaction within Palestinian society. On Wednesday, several dozen women and women’s rights activists held a rally in the area where Zaboun was killed. They called for stronger laws to end violence against women. While holding signs stating things such as “Shame Palestinians for killing our women,” the demonstrators chanted, “No to violence against women.”
Rabiha Diab, the Palestinian government’s women’s affairs minister, has also called for justice. “We should set an example because…he slaughtered her like a sheep,” she said. Diab has called on the police to look at what they can do to end violence against women. “Every once in a while, there is a case that makes us feel worried and afraid that we are going back to square one [as women],” she added.
For further information, please see:
Arutz Sheva – Arab Protest in Bethlehem Slams Violence Against Women – 2 August 2012
LA Times – Palestinian Women’s Killings Spark Outcry Over Lax Laws – 2 August 2012
Al Jazeera – Palestinians Protest Murder of Battered Wife – 1 August 2012
Ma’an News Agency – Protesters Call For Stricter Laws After Woman Stabbed to Death – 1 August 2012
Video Released of Kidnapped Women
By Margaret Janelle Hutchinson
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
BOGOTA, Colombia – Colombia’s second largest insurgent group, the National Liberation Army or ELN released a video today of two women taken hostage last week. The video depicts Elida Parra Alfonso, a journalist from Radio Sarare, who was kidnapped on 24 July from her home in Saravena Municipality, Arauca Department in northern Colombia and Gina Paola Uribe Villamizar, an environmental engineer, who was kidnapped in the same borough on the same day.
The ELN initially took credit for the kidnappings on Monday in the form of a message sent to the families of the kidnapped women.
Parra and Uribe do community outreach work for contractors on the Bicentennial Pipeline, or OBC, which – once completed – will transport crude from oil fields in Arauca 600 miles to the Caribbean port of Coveñas, making it the longest pipeline in the country. Once in operation, the pipeline will transport 125,000 barrels per day.
A consortium made up of Colombia’s state-owned Ecopetrol and seven multinationals is building the OBC, including Canadian firms Pacific Rubiales Energy and Petrominerales.
The building of the OBC has been plagued by protests and acts of violence. In the middle of last month Colombia’s government planned to deploy 5,000 soldiers to protect the Bicentennial Pipeline.
“We’re not going to be intimidated by terrorists who are trying to sabotage (the pipeline) and who are enemies of these projects,” Mines and Energy Minister Mauricio Cardenas said, when he announced the plans for enhanced protection last month. Cardenas was undoubtedly referring to leftist guerrillas who have fought a decades-old armed struggle against a succession of Colombian governments.
In the statement sent to the captives’ families, the ELN also took responsibility for the recent killing of Ricardo Mora, a manager of OBC contractor Sicim, and for a bombing at an oil pumping station.
The ELN vowed to continue its “political-military” action against the oil sector.
“Every megaproject of imperialism, multinationals and the oligarchy are and will be a military objective of the ELN, because they only benefit the capitalist system,” the rebel group said.
The ELN statement did not set forth any demands for the release of Uribe and Parra.
The ELN kidnapped 11 employees of Consorcio Casanare Avanzada, one of the contracting firms on the OBC, for a week earlier this year.
The rebels said in March that they are willing to end their offensive against the oil industry if the government agrees to make some areas off-limits and to levy a $10 per barrel “social tax” on crude production.
Amnesty International is calling for the immediate release of the two women.
For more information, please see:
Amnesty International – DOCUMENT – COLOMBIA: TWO WOMEN MUST BE RELEASED IMMEDIATELY – 2 August 2012
The Guardian – Colombia’s ELN guerillas release video of kidnapped women – video – 2 August 2012
Latin American Herald – Colombia Insurgents Admit Kidnapping Pipeline Employees – 2 August 2012
Colombia Reports – Female oil pipeline workers kidnapped in northeastern Colombia – 25 July 2012
Fox News Latino – Colombia to deploy 5,000 soldiers to protect new pipeline – 11 July 2012