Academic freedom committee's Iranian directive ditches Italian injustices
A letter from David Aliaga, Canada
Dear Domenico Pacitti,
Re:
Why is the Human Rights
Watch Academic Freedom Committee not watching Italy? (JUST Response,
August 28 2004)
I read your
response to Giuseppe D., from the University of Messina. I can attest to my
efforts to convince Mr. Thomas Yeh (at that time a full time Researcher with the
Academic Freedom Committee of Human Rights Watch) to help me by investigating
gross irregularities and violations to my academic freedoms suffered at the
hands of Italian academics (my tutor and a national commission) and bureaucrats
at the Italian Ministry of Universities and Research.
Mr. Yeh was
very sympathetic to my struggle and discussed my case with Mr. Saman Zia-Zarifi
who was then the Director of the Academic Freedom Committee, but unfortunately
Mr. Zia-Zarifi was not very keen on investigating my case. A couple of years
earlier I had contacted Mr. Zia-Zarifi asking for his Committee's help and at
that time he said to me: “I am at this point only interested in doing case work
about Iranian and Egyptian
academic violations”.
Later, when
I learned that he was born in Iran, I understood that Mr. Zia-Zarifi may have
had his own political agenda, which in any case I don’t believe represents the
principles stated in the charter of the Academic Freedom Committee of Human
Rights Watch.
In an e-mail
of response to Mr. Yeh’s efforts at helping me I said the following: “I'm
certainly disappointed that after years of trying to get a sympathetic hearing
and investigation about my case by HRW and its Academic Freedom Committee my
case still has not received the attention that it merits. ... Hopefully, when
there is a change at the helm of the committee I may be able to get a more
sympathetic hearing and probably an investigation about my case.”
Sincerely,
Note: This letter was published by JUST Response
on September 2 2004.
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