PHILIPPINES: Students protest treatment of academics

Students from three universities in the Philippines demonstrated on 18 November against a show cause order brought against 37 members of faculty at the University of the Philippines faculty of law, ABS-CBN News reported.

Students from the University of the Philippines (UP), De La Salle State University and Lyceum of the Philippines marched through the UP campus waving placards that read: "restore integrity" and "uphold academic freedom".

On 20 October 2010, the Supreme Court ordered the 37 professors to explain why they should not be sanctioned for publicly demanding the resignation of Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo over allegations of plagiarism.

In August, the UP law professors released a public statement stating that Del Castillo's plageurism of the work of three international legal experts was unacceptable and unethical.

All 37 professors may lose their licences to practice the profession if they are cited for contempt for signing the statement. The Supreme Court described the UP law professors' statement as "totally unnecessary, uncalled for and a rash act of vigilance".

UP law dean Marvic Leonen has publicly stated that he and other signatories will stand by their actions, saying "as faculty of a law school, we feel it incumbent upon us to make full, free and candid criticisms of published decisions of the Supreme Court".

ABS-CBN went on to report on 23 November that the University Board of Regents had joined in calls in asking the Supreme Court to withdraw the show cause order, stating concern that "such an order would cause a chilling effect on academic freedom".

IRAN: Scholar exiled in London targeted

An Iranian scholar exiled in London was the target of an elaborate assassination attempt by an Iranian agent, The Daily Telegraph reported on 30 November.

Ali Reza Nouridazeh, who now works for Voice in America from London, related how Mohammed Reza Sadeqinia, a supposedly wealthy businessman, travelled to London several times to meet with him. Sadeqinia's behaviour became increasingly suspicious. He took a number of pictures of Nouridazeh that later ended up in the hands of the Iranian Intelligence.

Nourizadeh alleged: "I think the plan was to poison me. He claimed to be a fan of my poetry but started acting suspiciously very quickly. He took many, many pictures of me, my car, everywhere we would go".

According to diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks, Nouridazah informed the US embassy in London about his worries for his life.

Sadeqinia was arrested earlier this year in California after trying to hire a man to kill Jamshid Sharmahd, an Iranian-American broadcaster. During the arrest, videos were seized that showed Nourizadeh in London, and he was therefore advised by the UK counter-terrorism officers to tighten his security.

According to Nourizadeh, Sadeqinia planned also to get close to film director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, a prominent Green Movement supporter, while in London. It has also been claimed Sadeqinia was asked by the Iranian authorities to infiltrate the US-led coalition in Afghanistan and was later generously thanked for his service.

IRAN: Two nuclear scientists attacked

Two Iranian nuclear physicists have been targeted by coordinated attacks in Tehran, killing one and wounding another, the Guardian reported on 29 November.

Majid Shahriari, who was killed, and Fereidoun Abbasi, who was wounded, were both leading figures in Iranian nuclear science, professors at the Shahid Besheshti University in Tehran and members of the Nuclear Society of Iran.

The two men were attacked by assassins on motorbikes who attached bombs to their cars while on the scientists were on the way to work and detonated them seconds later.

According to the UN Security Council (1747), Abbasi was "involved in nuclear or ballistic missile activities" and worked closely with Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi, who, according to Western intelligence, is in charge of the Iranian nuclear weapons programme. In 2007, he was acclaimed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the academic of the year.

Shahriari was in charge of a major project at the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation and wrote a paper on neutron diffusion in a reactor core with Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the organisation.

This is not the first time that nuclear scientists have been targeted in Iran. In January 2009, a similar attack killed Massoud Ali Mohammedi, a nuclear physicist. Similarities have been drawn between the attacks and between the victims: both Ali Mohhammidi and Shahriari were members of the Sesame Council; and Ali Mohammadi and Abbasi both taught at the IRGC's Imam Hussein University.

There has been a great deal of speculation over the possible perpetrators of these crimes.

If the Security Council is correct, Abbasi was involved in illegal activities. The two others victims' implication in is less clear.

It has been suggested that key individuals are being targeted to degrade Iran's nuclear capacity - both central figures and lower level academic staff who represent teaching expertise for the Iranian nuclear programme.

Possible suspects include the Sunni Jundullah movement and the People's Mujahedin (MeK or PMOI). But neither group has claimed responsibility for the attacks and there is a degree of scepticism regarding their possible involvement.

Another theory suggests involvement of a smaller group aiming to eliminate the Iranian nuclear elite and sabotage their nuclear programme, backed either by the US or Israel. Ahmadinejad has publicly blamed Western governments and Israel for the attack.

A last option would involve the state killing the scientists either because of possible defection or the leaking of secret information. The involvement of two of the victims in the Sesame, which has contacts with the West and Israel, could suggest this as a possibility.

On 30 November, BBC News reported Iran's Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi as saying that a number of arrests had been made following the attacks on the nuclear scientists. He did not identify the suspects or say how many people had been arrested - but he did repeat Iran's claim that the intelligence services of the US, Britain and Israel were responsible.

CANADA: Additional university with faith test for hiring

The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) has added the Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) to its list of institutions that have a 'faith test' for hiring, reported the Vancouver Sun on 1 December.

CAUT executive director Jim Turk denied that organisations on this list were being censured but highlighted why it was so important the organisational structure of the university to be made fully clear to the public.

"There are certain fairly universal standards for universities," which include academics being unfettered in their search for universal truths, said Turk. "If you say you can't teach here unless you have certain beliefs, then academic freedom is lacking".

CMU is the third institution that CAUT has placed on a so-called faith test list, following two Christian universities, Baptist Church's Trinity Western University, and Crandall University in Moncton.

CMU has responded to this action and the implication that the religious structure of the university places academic freedom at risk. Vice-President academic Earl Davey said the institution "is deeply committed to academic freedom - this is foundational to our understanding of the nature of universities".

As the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada engages in its Dialogue on Academic Freedom next week, there have been calls to address the situation from parties on both sides. The debate continues over whether academic freedom is in danger, or whether the practice of CAUT is damaging the reputation of institutions that, as Christian organisations, are only exacting their legal rights.

Peter Stockland, Director for the Cardus Centre for Culture Renewal, went so far as to raise the question of whether this was a question of academic freedom versus religious persecution, in an article in the Vancouver Sun.

* Roisin Joyce is Deputy Director of the Network for Education and Academic Rights, a non-profit organisation that facilitates the rapid global transfer of accurate information in response to breaches of academic freedom and human rights in education.