Press Releases

SAR Sweden calls for the release of Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali

The SAR Sweden section issued the below letter to Iranian and Swedish authorities, among other governments, to call for the immediate release of Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali. Dr. Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian citizen, received his PhD from Karolinska Institute in Sweden and

Release Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali amidst concerns of COVID-19

Iranian authorities have reportedly released roughly 85,000 individuals from prisons, in an effort to contain the outbreak of a novel coronavirus disease known as COVID-19. Authorities have not, however, released Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali who has long been in need of

SAR Italy calls for the release of Patrick George Zaki

Twelve university rectors of the SAR Italy section issued the below letter to call for the release of Patrick George Zaki, a graduate student at the University of Bologna who has been wrongfully detained in Egypt since February 7, 2020.

Iran: Free Fariba Adelkhah and Roland Marchal!

Fariba Adelkhah and Roland Marchal are researchers at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) who have been wrongfully detained in Iran since June 2019. On February 11, 2020, Scholars at Risk joins 18 academic associations and human rights

Pakistan: SAR Stands with Wrongfully-Convicted Scholar Junaid Hafeez

Scholars at Risk is gravely concerned by today’s conviction and sentencing to death of Junaid Hafeez, a former Bahauddin Zakaria University lecturer and a scholar of comparative literature. Mr. Hafeez was detained in 2013 after a group of students accused

SAR’s Response to the US Executive Order Titled “Combating Anti-Semitism”

Scholars at Risk (SAR) is greatly concerned by the recent US Executive Order titled “Combating Anti-Semitism”, which appears to be a dangerous intrusion of executive authority into the substance of research, teaching, and discourse on US higher education campuses, and

Hong Kong: Authorities Must Exercise Restraint and End Violent Sieges on Universities

Scholars at Risk (SAR) is gravely concerned about a violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters on Hong Kong’s university campuses, and calls on government and university authorities to take immediate steps to de-escalate violence and to ensure the safety and well-being

Free to Think 2019: Distressing phenomenon of attacks on higher education demands global action

New York, NY — Scholars at Risk announces the release of Free to Think 2019, a report analyzing 324 attacks on higher education communities in 56 countries between September 1, 2018 and August 31, 2019. “Attacks on higher education communities

Threats to Academic Freedom Jeopardize China’s Higher Education Ambitions

Scholars at Risk announces the release of Obstacles to Excellence: Academic Freedom & China’s Quest for World Class Universities, a new report mapping threats to academic freedom that jeopardize China’s higher education ambitions.

Capacity-building gift from the Charles Koch Foundation

Scholars at Risk (SAR) is pleased to announce a capacity-building gift from the Charles Koch Foundation (CKF). The gift will allow SAR to strengthen the network office, which has been under pressure to keep up with increasing attacks on higher

Egypt: End Probationary Measures Against Waleed K. Salem

Waleed K. Salem is a doctoral candidate at the University of Washington who was arrested while conducting dissertation research in Cairo in May 2018 and detained without charge until December 2018. Following his release, he has been required to regularly

Concerns About Restrictions on Scholars’ Ability to Travel to the West Bank

International faculty at Palestinian universities have faced increasingly opaque and arbitrary limitations on their ability to remain in or return to the West Bank to continue teaching activities. These limitations threaten significant harm to Palestinian higher education. Scholars at Risk

Iran: Release Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali

On July 29, 2019, Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali, a scholar of disaster medicine sentenced to death in Iran, was unexpectedly transferred to an undisclosed location, where he was reportedly held in solitary confinement. Dr. Djalali’s wife reports that authorities attempted to

Statement in Response to Report the FBI Is Urging Universities to Monitor Chinese Students and Scholars

August 12, 2019 – According to recent public reports, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other government officials have advised some U.S. universities to develop protocols for monitoring students and scholars from Chinese state-affiliated research institutions. This move seemingly

SAR calls for action to counter mass targeting of higher education communities in Turkey

July 30, 2019 | New York, NY – Scholars at Risk (SAR), in partnership with the Human Rights Centre of Ghent University, has filed a submission with the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR), highlighting pressures and attacks on higher