Press Releases

SAR calls on Egyptian authorities to drop charges against renowned librarian

Scholars at Risk has called on Egyptian authorities to drop all charges against Dr. Ismail Serageldin, an internationally renowned scholar librarian and former director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA). Dr. Serageldin was sentenced to a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence on July 31, 2017,

Disaster medicine scholar sentenced to death in Iran

Scholars at Risk is gravely concerned by reports that Ahmadreza Djalali, a scholar of disaster medicine, has been sentenced to death in Iran. Dr. Djalali is a permanent resident of Sweden, affiliated with the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden and the

SAR calls on Ethiopian authorities to release political scientist Merera Gudina

Scholars at Risk has called on Ethiopian authorities to release and drop all charges against Dr. Merera Gudina, a former professor of political science at Addis Ababa University and the chair of of the Oromo Federalist Congress. Dr. Gudina was arrested

Free to Think 2017: Anti-democratic trends driving increased attacks on higher education worldwide

Scholars at Risk has released Free to Think 2017, an annual report analyzing 257 reported attacks on higher education communities in 35 countries, from September 1, 2016, to August 31, 2017.

Denial of asylum to Dr. Radwan Ziadeh on dubious grounds would harm free expression, peacebuilding around the world

Washington, D.C. — A coalition of human rights advocacy groups has called on members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate the United States Customs and Immigration Service’s announcement that it intends to deny Syrian writer, scholar, and human rights

‘We Are Syrians’ is the story of dissenters fighting for their country

When the Assad government wanted to silence them, Naila Al-Atrash, a theatre director, Radwan Ziadeh, an intellectual, and Sana Mustafa, a student organizer, refused to stop making their voices heard. They organized, they protested, they made art. Editors Adam Braver

SAR mourns passing of wrongfully imprisoned scholar-activist Liu Xiaobo

Scholars at Risk mourns the passing of Liu Xiaobo, a scholar of literature, writer, human rights defender, democracy advocate , and a Nobel Laureate, wrongfully imprisoned in China since 2008.

Release and ensure rights of wrongfully convicted scholar-activist Khalil Al-Halwachi

Today, a coalition of five human rights organizations expressed grave concern over the lack of due process rights and inhumane treatment of Khalil Al-Halwachi, a Bahraini scholar of engineering and an activist, who has been convicted and sentenced to ten

Launch of Scholars at Risk Finland Section

Representatives from universities across Finland convened in Vaasa on May 8, 2017 to launch the Finnish section of Scholars at Risk (SAR). SAR is an international network of more than 460 higher education institutions in 35 countries working to protect

UAE: Free Wrongfully Imprisoned Human Rights Defender Ahmed Mansoor

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates should immediately release Ahmed Mansoor, an award-winning human rights defender who is facing charges that violate his right to freedom of expression, a coalition of 18 human rights organizations said today, one month after

Venezuela: Students’ right to protest under attack

SAR has joined seven Venezuelan higher education and human rights partners in an open letter to state authorities, expressing grave concern over the use of force against student protesters, which recently resulted in the death of one student.

Pakistan’s higher education sector faces significant violent and legislative pressures

Scholars at Risk (SAR) has filed a submission to the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review (UPR), expressing grave concern over threats to Pakistan’s academic freedom and the ability of its higher education space to function in a safe, free, and

SAR expresses grave concern over threats to academic freedom in Hungary

Scholars at Risk (SAR) has issued a letter to Hungarian authorities expressing concern over proposed legislative amendments that apparently target Central European University (CEU). If passed, these changes would threaten CEU’s existence as well as academic freedom and institutional autonomy

Professor Istar Gozaydin’s 100th day of incarceration displays deteriorating conditions for freedom of speech in Turkey

Thursday March 30th marks the 100th day of imprisonment of Professor Istar Gozaydin, lately Chair of the Department of Sociology at Turkey’s Gediz University.

United Arab Emirates: Stop paying lip service to human rights and release Dr. Nasser bin Ghaith

A coalition of ten human rights organizations today urged the United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Dr Nasser Bin Ghaith.