Endangered Scholars Worldwide


From Summer 2007 onwards, Social Research will dedicate a section of each issue to a listing of endangered and imprisoned scholars worldwide. We will publish the names of these scholars and provide further details, along with draft letters of protest to the people responsible for their arrest and treatment. Our hope is that world opinion will help persuade them to free the individuals they unjustly imprison and persecute.

Endangered Scholars Worldwide
Panel Discussion
at The New School

Thursday, February 7, 2008
5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Social Research was founded by a group of scholars known as "The University in Exile", refugees from Nazi Europe who found a home in The New School. Almost 75 years later we see this new effort as consistent not only with our own history as a journal but with the need to call attention to the increasing, often brutal, attempts to silence our colleagues around the world.

If you would like to recieve updates about the scholars on our lists or have any information about cases of scholars facing repression please email us at socres@newschool.edu

Please click on the names of the scholars below for more information and means to register support.

Fall 2007

  • Dr. 'Aref Dalilah
    A former Dean of Economics at Aleppo University, Damascus who has campaigned against corruption and for freedom of expression. Arrested in Fall 2001 in Syria on charges of "attempting to change the constitution by illegal means."
  • Dr. Igor Sutyagin
    A researcher at the US and Canada Institute in Moscow arrested in Russia in Spring 2004 and sentenced to 15 years hard labor for treason and espionage.
  • Ko Aung Htun
    A writer and and former student activist arrested in Burma in Winter 1998 and sentenced to 17 years' imprisonment under charges of violating state censorship and unlawful association.
  • Xu Zerong
    A professor affiliated with the Provincial Academy of Science and Zhongshan University arrested in 2002 and charged with revealing state secrets for his use of historical materials in researching the Korean War.

Summer 2007

  • Dr. Bernhanu Nega  released
    An economist and New School Alumni arrested in Ethiopia in Fall 2005 and charged with treason for his leading role in the democratic opposition movement.
  • Dr. Kian Tajbakhsh  released
    A social scientist and former professor at the New School for Social Research arrested in Iran in Spring 2007 and charged with spying for the United States.
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