The Academic Freedom Committee of Human Rights Watch welcomed today's news that Egyptian prosecutors have released on bail Prof. Saad El-Din Ibrahim and some staff members of his pro-democracy think tank who were detained more than a month ago.
Ibrahim, as well as Nadia Abd-al Nur and several of their colleagues from the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies were released after they posted sizable sums for bail. The Academic Freedom Committee urged the Egyptian authorities to reopen the Center and to clarify the status of the Center's other employees and researchers who have remained in custody since early July. Although unsubstantiated accusations of espionage, forgery of election ballots, and financial impropriety have been aired in the Egyptian media, to date no formal charges have been brought against the Center's staff and researchers.
"It appears Ibrahim's detention was mainly a warning to intimidate independent academics ahead of the elections," said Saman Zia-Zarifi, director of Human Rights Watch's Academic Freedom program.
The Khaldun Center is a leading source of information and analysis in the applied social sciences in Egypt and the Arab world, and its continued closure, along with the uncertain status of its researchers, will further poison the atmosphere necessary for independent academic work. The Academic Freedom Committee called on the Egyptian authorities to honor their obligations to protect and promote academic freedom by either reopening the Ibn Khaldun Center and releasing its detained staff, or by promptly providing them with the opportunity to defend themselves against formal charges in a court of law.
