EFTA00729986.pdf

DR F- Name Scholar Discipline Report Code Maimul Khan Bangladesh I.aw This scholar of constitutional law from Bangladesh was appointed the chair of the Law Department at the 001 University of Dhaka in 1997. Shortly thereafter, the Prime Minister's office insisted that he fill department vacancies with political appointees. The scholar's refusal to follow what he calls "political orders" led to personal threats and to the termination of his position. Thanks to the SRF, he found a position at the University of California at Davis Law School, where he taught courses on human rights, law and culture in the Muslim world. He also taught courses at the University of California at Berkeley's Boalt Hall Law School. He completed his fellowship in 2003, and published Human Rights in the Muslim World: Constitutionalism, Fundamentalism, and International Politics. The scholar is now a professor in the School of Law at the University of California at Davis. Dmitri Lapotko Belarus 007 Biomedical This scholar is a medical research scientist and professor with over seventeen years of teaching experience in Technology Europe and the United States. He received his Ph.D. in laser physics and acoustics from the Belarusian State University. In recent years, the Soros Foundation, the US National Institute for Health, the National Cancer Institute, and the U.S. Department of Defense have sponsored his research. In addition to a depressed economic situation in Belarus, this scholar is concerned about the increasingly authoritarian rule that has threatened him and his colleagues. His supervisor remains in jail today, and the government has launched a criminal investigation accusing him of fraud and abuse of state property. Fearing the seizure of his research facility and possible arrest, he contacted the SRF. With the Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology at Rice University, the scholar is now furthering his research on leukemia and cancer treatment using nanotechnology. Prosper Nobirabo Democratic Law This legal scholar served as editor in chief of the University of Kinshasa's law journal and has held the Republic positions of Director and Vice President of the International Center for the Defence of the Rights of the of Congo Indigenous Batwa "Pygmies" of Central Africa. Himself an indigenous Batwa, he is a 2003 recipient of the UN 040 International Labor Organization (ILO)'s indigenous and tribal people's fellowship and is an established expert on the concerns facing the Batwa and indigenous peoples in Central Africa. In 2003, this scholar and a colleague undertook a study which researched the Batwa's legal and penal systems. The team witnessed and documented systemic human rights abuses against the Batwa. National security forces in Kinshasa learned of their work and confiscated their writing and research materials. Fearing arrest and prolonged detention, they escaped to Switzerland in January 2004. An SRF fellowship in October 2005, renewed in 2007, supported this scholar's independent research at Bern Univeristy and Fribourg University in Switzerland on the economic and political implications of a federated D.R. Congo where he published his dissertation and numerous academic articles. He is now a visiting fellow at the National University of Ireland and the Irish Center for Human Rights in Galway EFTA00729986 Name Scholar Discipline Report Code Saad Eddin Ibrahim Egypt 001 Sociology The work of this internationally renowned Egyptian sociologist focuses on the democratic process, human rights, and the development of civil society. In 2001, he was arrested, imprisoned, tried and convicted by an Egyptian court on charges of receiving foreign funds without government permission, tarnishing Egypt's image, and improper use of European grant monies. The charges and trial were widely condemned by international observers, including the European Commission, and are suspected to have arisen from government displeasure with the scholar's reports examining election fraud and undemocratic practices. After an international campaign on his behalf, the scholar was retried and acquitted in 2003. The SRF awarded a fellowship and arranged a visit co-hosted by New York University and Columbia University, during which time the scholar resumed his teaching and writing and recovered from medical conditions worsened by his imprisonment. The scholar completed the fellowship in May 2004 and returned to his university in Egypt but eventually faced renewed pressures and threats from the government. He fled to Turkey and in September 2008 he was sentenced in absentia to three years in jail with hard labor or a fine of LE 10,000 on charges of harming the reputation and the image of Egypt abroad. He has since returned to the US as a visiting professor at several institutions including Harvard University and is a regular public commentator on events unfolding in the Middle East. In September 2009 he will join Drew University as a Wallerstein Distinguished Visiting Professor. Hadi Hadizade Yazdi Iran 005 Nuclear This established nuclear physicist has taught at Ferdowsi University in Mashad, Iran for 24 years. He is also a Physics member of Nehzat-e Azadi (the Iran Freedom Movement), a liberal political group that supports democratization within the framework of Iranian nationalism. In May 2001, he was arrested, tried and convicted along with other members of the organization. He was released pending appeal of an 8-year sentence, but the scholar and outside observers fear that he could be re-arrested at any time. In 2004, the SRF arranged a position for him at Ohio University, where he continues to pursue research and publications. As of 2008, the scholar was at Harvard University searching a more permanent position in the US. Javad Tabatabai Iran 008 Political This eminent scholar was a professor of political theory and Associate Dean of Tehran University's School of Theory Law and Political Science. His work has been lauded as contributing to a deeper understanding of Islamic political thought and Iranian history. The scholar has argued that a steady decline of political thought over the centuries has paved the way for the ascendancy of religious and mystical modes of reasoning. Accused of undermining Islam, he was repeatedly barred from teaching and subjected to harsh attacks, ultimately forcing him to flee Iran in 1997. With SRF support for a fellowship at Syracuse University's Global Affairs Institute, the scholar embarked on the most ambitious project of his career—a multi-volume work on the decline of Iranian political thought, which he completed in 2007. EFTA00729987  DRAFT Name Scholar Discipline Report Code Abdullah Kendoush Iraq 067 Nuclear This professor of physics and engineering was recognized by the former Iraqi government as among the top 50 Thermal scientists and engineers in the country. He received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Hydraulics Strathclyde, UK where he focused on thermodynamics and fluid mechanics. He has since spent 30 years heading research on reactor physics and heat transfer with the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC). Because of his high-profile publications and international recognition in his field, he received numerous death threats from unidentified groups demanding his resignation. After narrowly avoiding a deadly bomb attack, the scholar sought support from SRF. In September 2006, he joined the University of Florida- Gainesville where he continues to research in safety. Shemeem B. Abbas Pakistan 009 English- A former department chair and professor of English language and applied linguistics at the Open University in Language & Islamabad, Pakistan, this scholar is best known for her book, The Female Voice in Sufi Ritual: Devotional Applied Practices of Pakistan and India (2002), which has received widespread critical acclaim. In 1998, Islamic clerics Linguistics at the university brought charges against her including blasphemy, a non-bailable offence for which conviction carries a death sentence. Although top- level government intervention eventually forced the charges to be dropped, the scholar feared retaliation and vigilante attacks by militant extremists known to target defendants in such cases and subsequently fled the country. The SRF awarded her a fellowship in February 2004 at the University of Texas where she completed her latest book inspired by her experience entitled On the Margins of State and Empire: Theorizing Pakistan's Blasphemy Laws. On a second fellowship in 2005, she joined the faculty of Political Science at Purchase College, which has since offered her a permanent tenure-track position. Michael Richard Sri Lanka Mathematics With a doctorate in mathematical logic from Oxford University, this scholar taught mathematics at the Hoole 004 University of Singapore before returning home to take up a position as Senior Lecturer in mathematics at the University of Jaffna. At the time of his return to Sri Lanka in 1986, the continuing civil war between the Sri Lankan state and minority Tamil militant groups was at a period of intense hostility. In this environment he and colleagues at the University of Jaffna founded the University Teachers for Human Rights-Jaffna (UTHR). Their reports on human rights violations were circulated widely, but as a result of their reporting, a colleague was murdered in 1989. Ultimately, the scholar received death threats and narrowly evaded abduction. In 2004, he was selected for a fellowship at Harvard University, which then nominated him to SRF for continuing support as he could not return safely to Sri Lanka at that time. SRF awarded a fellowship for the 2005-2006 academic year to continue at Harvard's Department of Mathematics. The scholar has since returned to the region but SRF has received reports that he has not been able to return to Sri Lanka, and that he and his family continue to receive threats. EFTA00729988  DRAFT Name Scholar Discipline Report Code Ratnajeevan Hoole Sri Lanka Electrical This scholar is a senior professor of electrical and electronic engineering with more than 30 years of teaching 009 Engineering and research experience. His specialty is in computing, with a research focus in electromagnetic field computation/electrical product design. He holds a D.Sc. (Doctor of Science) from a university in the U.K. and a Ph.D. from a university in the U.S. Among other international posts, he has held the UNESCO Chair in Information Technology at a university in Sri Lanka. He has authored several books and over 100 journal articles in his field of engineering as well as in the humanities and social sciences. In March 2006, the scholar was appointed Vice Chancellor at the University of Jaffna, a move that was countered by much opposition from groups sympathetic to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in a part of the country that has been plagued by a long-term cessation conflict. The scholar was warned not to take up the position by groups believing that he was sympathetic to the University Teachers for Human Rights, Jaffna (UTHR-J), which reported on human rights abuses committed by those on all sides of the conflict, including alleged abuses of the LTTE. Fearing for his safety, the scholar and his wife fled to the U.S. where he served as a visiting professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Drexel University through the spring term 2007. The scholar has taken up a full professorship at the Reinsellar Polytechnic Institute's Hartford campus. HATypingMRScholar Notes-011910.wpd 011910/cmr(i) EFTA00729989