In an open letter to Sudanese President al Bashir, Human Rights Watch called for an impartial and thorough investigation into a violent attack on the daughter of Sudanese academic Dr. Farouq M. Kadouda.
On October 31, 1999, Dr. Kadouda, who is active in opposition politics, found his teenage daughter beaten and unconscious on the floor of his home with a note next to her body stating that the attack was to be taken as a warning. In the months prior to the attack, Dr. Kadouda had received numerous threats of violence and warnings of retaliation should he continue to speak out against the government and advocate democratization in the Sudan.
"The evidence we have strongly suggests that the attack on Dr. Kadouda's daughter was part of a politically motivated campaign of intimidation against him," said Joseph Saunders, who heads the academic freedom project at Human Rights Watch. "The act itself was despicable enough. But the failure of police to pursue the case means that the assailant remains at large and Dr. Kadouda and his family remain under threat."
The letter was signed on behalf of Human Rights Watch's Academic Freedom Committee by Jonathan Fanton, former president of the New School University in New York, and by Peter Takirambudde, who heads the Africa Division at Human Rights Watch. In addition to Mr. Fanton, the membership of the committee includes internationally prominent academic leaders and scholars, including the presidents of Harvard University, Columbia University and over a dozen other universities in the United States.
