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August 4, 2002 His Excellency Mohammed Hosni Mubarak
His Excellency General Habib El-Adli
His Excellency Faruq Sayf Al-Nasr Your Excellencies: We are writing on behalf of the nearly 13,000 members of the American Sociological Association (ASA), a scientific society of academic and professional sociologists, to protest the sentencing on July 29, 2002, of Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim and his associates at the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies. The Supreme State Security Court’s conviction of Dr. Ibrahim and his associates seriously undermines the scientific enterprise in Egypt. The physically ailing Dr. Ibrahim, 63, is a sociology professor at the American University in Cairo, and a dual citizen of the United States and Egypt. Trained in the United States at the University of Washington, Dr. Ibrahim is also the founder and director of the The Ibn Khaldun Center, a civil and human rights organization in Cairo. We are gravely concerned that the latest verdict was issued as a result of Dr. Ibrahim’s work as a scholar and scientist. In the expression of his work, Dr. Ibrahim is entitled to the protections guaranteed by the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights to which Egypt is a signatory. As stated therein, everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference (Article 19.1); everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds (Article 19.2); and everyone shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law (Article 14). We are also profoundly dismayed by the sentencing procedure and verdict, which delivered unwarranted punishment to Dr. Ibrahim and his associates. Unwisely, judicial process was mocked in this trial. No time was allocated to the judge making a decision after the defense’s closing arguments and the prosecution did not even present its final rebuttal. The court’s lack of adherence to basic standards of judicial procedure and Judge Adel Abdel Salaam Gomaa’s sentencing decision are in direct violation of a number of international treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Egypt ratified on August 4, 1967. ASA is not alone in its outrage over this issue. However, as a scientific society, we are particularly concerned that compromising science, as Dr. Ibrahim’s sentencing surely does, undermines a country’s educational and cultural vitality as well as its economic and political stature. We are hopeful that Egypt’s leadership will quickly come to understand the grave harm this breach of justice and insult to intellectual and scientific pursuits represents to Egypt. We appreciate your consideration of this matter, and urge an annulment of the verdicts against Dr. Ibrahim and his associates. The American Sociological Association and those of us in its leadership consider it a matter of great urgency. Sincerely,
Barbara F. Reskin, PhD
Sally T. Hillsman, PhD
cc: The Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies Last Updated on January 08, 2005 |
