Penn Law, ILHR, Seek Release of Iranian Scholar
PHILADELPHIA (Sept. 3, 2008) — The University of Pennsylvania Law School and two human rights groups today called on the government of Iran to release an Iranian legal scholar scheduled to teach in the U.S. Mehdi Zakerian, an assistant professor of human rights at an independent university in Tehran, was reportedly detained by the Iranian government in mid-August while he awaited U.S. visa clearance to travel to Philadelphia as a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. The Iranian government has not released any information about his location or condition, nor have any formal charges been brought against him.
"Professor Zakerian is a leading scholar on human rights in the Islamic world," said Michael A. Fitts, dean of Penn Law. "His scholarship is at the forefront of international and human rights law and we remain hopeful that we can welcome Professor Zakerian to our classrooms."
Zakerian was detained in Tehran by governmental authorities on or about Aug.15, according to Iranian Human Rights Voice, which reports that he has been "in a ministry of intelligence detention center for the past two weeks."
Penn Law was joined by the non-governmental organizations International League for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch in calling for Zakerian’s release.
Zakerian is "one of the leading thinkers on Human Rights in the middle east whose writings have helped us all better understand the relationships between human rights and Islam," said William Burke-White, an assistant professor at Penn Law and an expert in international law. "Professor Zakerian’s detention appears to be part of a broader crackdown on independently minded academics at leading institutions across Iran."
Zakerian is chairman of the Iranian International Relations Society and a senior researcher at the Center for the Strategic Studies of the Middle East. He is the editor of the journal International Studies, published quarterly in both Farsi and English, which is devoted to issues of international affairs and human rights. In 2002, Zakerian was a fellow at the Hague Academy of International Law in The Hague, Netherlands.
League Mourns Death of Father Robert Drinan
January 29, 2007 (New York) The International League for Human Rights mourns the passing of Father Robert Drinan, who died Sunday at the age of 86. Drinan had been an active member of the League’s Governing Council since 1982.
Father Drinan was an active, impassioned and oftentimes outspoken advocate and his work promoting the rights of the oppressed continued with vigor until days before his death. His work was characterized by building support across party lines to promote the human rights agenda whether on a League mission to Chile , promoting inter-religious dialogue in the US or advocating for the right to emigrate from the Soviet Union .
The International League for Human Rights cherishes the memory of Father Robert Drinan for his generosity of spirit, kindness, and his work with the League defending defenders across ideological, theological and geographic boundaries. He honored us as a member of our Governing Council for the last twenty-five years of his life.
- Robert Arsenault
League Speaks Out On Turkmenistan
Courtesy White House Weekly, Llewellyn King, Publisher
January 10, 2007
NEW YORK -Three of the world's most notorious dictators—Chile's Augusto Pinochet, Iraq's Saddam Hussein and Turkmenistan's Saparmurat Niyazov - died last month.
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League's Reports:
Alternative Report on Compliance by the Republic of Turkmenistan with the
UN Convention
on the Rights of the Child
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Alternative Report on the Areas of Particular Concern in the Compliance of the Republic of
Uzbekistan with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
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Alternative Report on the Compliance of the Republic of Uzbekistan with
The United Nations Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
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Alternative Report on the Compliance of the Azerbaijan Republic with the Convention on
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
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Report on Uzbekistan’s Observance of the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights
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A Guide for Non-Governmental Organizations on Reporting to the Committee
on the Rights of
the Child (in Russian)
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Chilean, Guatemalan and US Champions Honored with Gruber Prize for Women’s Rights
The winners of the 2006 Gruber Prize for Women’s Rights are:
Luz Méndez for the Unión Nacional de Mujeres Guatemaltecas (UNAMG), a Guatemalan women’s rights organization;
Julie Su for Sweatshop Watch, a California-based coalition fighting against exploitation of migrants in sweat shops;Chilean jurist Cecilia Medina Quiroga, the only woman judge on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
The two organizations and Judge Medina each receive a gold medal and a third of the $300,000 unrestricted cash award.
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The International League for Human Rights and the Center for Media, Education & Technology launch the web site for the Voice of Youth Media Project. After a ten-year war noted for its egregious atrocities committed against civilians (some by forcibly conscripted child soldiers), Sierra Leone’s youth has taken to the airwaves to voice their concerns about the human rights and governance crisis that led to the war, and that exists to date.
On the VoY web site, you can hear the radio shows that are currently being broadcast locally on issues of corruption, Charles Taylor, violence against women and girls, HIV/AIDS, the human rights of the disabled, workforce strikes, and more. The League and CMET have trained over 30 youth journalists, all of whom were victims of the war, to bring the voice of this majority yet marginalized population to policymakers and citizens alike.
www.voiceofchildrenonline.org
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