BRISMES Committee on Academic Freedom
The BRISMES Committee on Academic Freedom was set up to monitor and defend academic freedom in the research, study and teaching of Middle East Studies in the UK and anywhere in the world, including in academic institutions in the Middle East and North Africa.
To learn more about how the committee works, please see the Terms of Reference.
Latest Letter
The Academic Freedom Committee has written to Iraqi authorities to express our profound concern about the recent directives which ban or limit the use of the terms “gender” (al-naw‘ al-ijtima‘i and al-jindar) and “homosexuality” (al-mithliyya) from official documents, institutions, and media platforms.
BRISMES understands that the directive applies to government institutions, including universities. This is a clear infringement of the academic freedom and freedom of expression of academics and students in Iraqi universities, who must be free to explore ideas, and to use academic terminology, as they choose.
This directive delegitimizes and devalues gender studies, which is an internationally recognised and vital field of academic study that contributes to improving the lives of women and girls and supporting their full participation in all spheres of life as well as allowing us to make sense of important societal dynamics and changes. Furthermore, the directive contributes to and legitimizes the discrimination that people with non-normative gender and sexual identities experience in Iraq, including university students and staff.
We urge Iraqi authorities to rescind the directive immediately and in full, and to confirm their commitment to academic freedom and freedom of expression in Iraqi universities.
29 August 2023
Previous Letters
2023
- The Committee on Academic Freedom wrote a letter to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to express deep concerns about the ongoing detention of Dr Ahmed Tohamy, Assistant Professor of Political Sciences in the Faculty of Economic and Political Sciences, Alexandria University. - 15 August 2023
- Following the heartening news of the decision to pardon Mr Patrick George Zaki, the BRISMES Committee on Academic Freedom together with the Committee on Academic Freedom of the Italian Society for the Study of the Middle East (SeSaMO) wrote to the Egyptian government and to EU and Italian authorities regarding the ongoing detention of thousands of other students, academics, researchers and human rights defenders in Egypt.- 25 July 2023
- Response from European External Action Service - 5 September 2023
- Statement in solidarity with Dr Muriel Asseburg of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs after she came under attack by the Israeli embassy in Berlin following comments that she made in a podcast discussing the situation in the Middle East. - 18 July 2023
- BRISMES has signed a joint letter to Bahraini authorities expressing grave concern for the well-being of Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace, an academic, award-winning human rights defender and blogger serving a life sentence in Bahrain solely for exercising his rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. - 8 July 2023
- Letter to Leiden University to express serious and urgent concern regarding the cancellation of the event ‘Apartheid in Palestine, Namibia, and South Africa - Ending Apartheid: Learning from the past and present’, organised by Students for Palestine (SfP), African Students Association (ASA) and the BASIS Africa Committee. - 6 July 2023
- BRISMES has signed a joint letter from 51 organisations calling for the release of Dr Salah Soltan, an arbitrarily detained academic in Egypt. The co-signing organisations believe that the Egyptian authorities’ abuse of Dr Soltan, a legal US permanent resident, appears to be in retaliation for the human rights work of his son, Mohamed Soltan, who lives in the USA. - 3 May 2023
- BRISMES has signed a joint letter from 104 organisations strongly urging the United Nations not to endorse or adopt the IHRA working definition of antisemitism which has been used to surpress criticism of human rights violations by Israeli authorities. - 20 April 2023
- Statement of support for the Centre for Lebanese Studies (CLS), which abruptly had its partnership with the Lebanese American University (LAU) terminated. The committee expressed its support for CLS and its appreciation for the vital work that it does in Lebanon, the Middle East and the UK. - 1 March 2023
- Letter to UK Foreign Secretary requesting that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office urges Saudi authorities to ensure that the death penalty against academics Awad Al-Qarni, Salman Alodah and Hassan Farhan al-Maliki is dropped and that they are immediately released from prison. - 2 February 2023
- Response from FCDO - 24 February 2023
- Response from FCDO - 24 February 2023
- Statement from the BRISMES Committee on Academic Freedom in response to the Rebecca Tuck KC report on alleged antisemitism in the National Union of Students (NUS). - 1 February 2023
- Letter to Bahraini authorities expressing concern about the ongoing imprisonment of Bahraini academic Dr. Abduljalil al-Singace and the violations of his academic freedom. - 4 January 2023
2022
- Open letter to COP27 attendees providing essential information regarding the state of academic freedom in Egypt. - 3 November 2022
- Letter to Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, Principal of University of Glasgow, expressing deep concern regarding the university's treatment of Ms. Jane Jackman.- 1 November 2022
- Statement of solidarity with academic staff and students in Iran who have been protesting following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini. -6 October 2022
- Letters to Leeds University and to the UK government to express alarm at the conviction and jailing of Leeds University PhD student Salma al-Shehab. - 24 August 2022
- Read letter to UK government
- Response from FCDO - 14 October 2022
- Letter to the University of Edinburgh and LSE urging them to clarify and restate their commitment to academic freedom in light of their partnerships with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) whose annual conference, COP27, is scheduled to be hosted by Egypt in November 2022. - 17 August 2022
- Letters to Diaa Rashwan, Coordinator of the National Dialogue in Egypt, to express our deep concern about the ongoing detention of:
- Alexandria University Assistant Professor of Political Science, Dr Ahmed Al-Tohamy Abdel-Hay - Read letter
- Helwan University’s former Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Dr Elsayed Hassan Shehabeldin Abo Zaid - Read letter
- Former Cairo University Engineering Professor Dr Essam Hashish - Read letter
- Egyptian Professor of Engineering Dr Mohamed Ali Beshr - Read letter
- Egyptian scholar Dr Salah Soltan, who is also a resident of the United States - Read letter
- Letter to Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna to express our serious and urgent concern regarding the cancellation of a talk by Dr Walaa Alqaisiya scheduled for May 30 at the Institute for Art Theory and Cultural Studies as part of its Spring Curatorial Program 2022, Art Geographies - 27 May 2022
- Letter to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet to protest against Israeli violations of Palestinian academic freedom and to call on the Prime Minister to cancel the recently announced “Procedure for Entry and Residency of Foreigners in Judea and Samaria Region” - 6 April 2022
- Letter to Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor University of Manchester, to express our concerns about the University’s treatment of Alistair Hudson, Director, Whitworth Art Gallery (WAG) - 8 March 2022
- Letter to Professor Sir Chris Husbands, Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University regarding the investigation of Shahd Abusalama and cancellation of the class she was scheduled to teach - 25 January 2022
2021
- Letter to the UK Home Secretary to express our concern about statements made by the Home Secretary following LSE student protests against the Israeli Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely - 16 November 2021
- Report on meeting between BRISMES Committee on Academic Freedom and the Minister for Universities, Michelle Donelan, and Baroness Barran, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Education, in follow-up to our correspondence with the Minister regarding the IHRA working definition of antisemitism - 28 October 2021
- Letter to Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, Principal of University of Glasgow, regarding the University's ‘Protocol for Managing Speakers and Events’ and the University’s decision to adopt the IHRA working definition of antisemitism and their implications for Middle East Studies and academic freedom.
- 19 October 2021- Response from University of Glasgow - 21 October 2021
- Response from BRISMES Committee on Academic Freedom - 27 October 2021
- Response from University of Glasgow - 21 October 2021
- Letter to Professor Hugh Brady, Vice-Chancellor of Bristol University, regarding the University's decision to fire Professor David Miller following an investigation into comments that he made that were critical of Israeli government policy, Zionism and pro-Israel groups.
- 12 October 2021 - Joint letter to Professor Toope, Vice-Chancellor of the Univeristy of Cambridge, from BRISMES Committee on Academic Freedom and the Board of Directors of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) regarding the proposed academic deal between the University of Cambridge and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
- 18 August 2021 - Letter to Egyptian President regarding the arrest and interrogation of Dr Alia Mossallam, an EUME (Europe in Nahen Osten) Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Berlin, Germany.
- 15 July 2021 - Letter to Professor Chamovitz, President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, regarding events that took place on 11 May 2021 on and near the university campus in Beer Shava.
- 9 June 2021 - Letter to UK Minister of State for Universities regarding the IHRA definition of antisemitism and the autonomy of universities.
- 26 May 2021- Response from Minister of State for Universities - 18 June 2021
- Response from BRISMES Committe on Academic Freedom - 4 August 2021
- Report on meeting between BRISMES Committee on Academic Freedom and Minister of State for Universities on 28 October 2021
- Response from Minister of State for Universities - 18 June 2021
- Letter to Iranian authorities regarding the prosecution and imprisonment of Touraj Amini, a historian of the Qajar dynasty and Iranian Constitutional movement.
- 21 April 2021 - Letter to UCL Provost regarding the UCL Academic Board Vote on the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism.
- 30 March 2021- Response from UCL Provost - 12 April 2021
- Response from UCL Provost - 12 April 2021
- Letter to Iranian authorities regarding the prosecution and sentencing of Prof. Sedigheh Vasmaghi, poet, writer, formerly tenured professor of theology at the University of Tehran and scholar of Islamic studies.
- 9 March 2021 - Letter to Egyptian President regarding the ongoing detention of Ahmed Samir Santawy, master's student at the Central European University (CEU).
- 9 March 2021 - Letter to UK Foreign Secretary on the fifth anniversary of the murder of Giulio Regeni.
- 27 January 2021- Response from the Foreign Secretary - 3 March 2021
2020
- Letter to Egyptian President regarding the arrest and detention of Dr Ahmed Tohamy and the continued detention of Mr Patrick George Zaki.
- 29 November 2020 - Letter to Israeli government calling for the immediate release of Professor Imad Barghouthi.
- 22 October 2020 - Letter to the President of the German Rectors' Conference regarding the recent resolution entitled ‘No place for antisemitism’ and its implications for academic freedom.
- 26 February 2020 - Letter from BRISMES regarding the arrest and detention of Mr Patrick Zaki.
- 14 February 2020 - BRISMES signs open letter calling for the release of Fariba Adelkhah and Roland Marchal, academics imprisoned in Iran since last year on charges of espionage.
- 11 February 2020
2016-2019
- Letter to Egyptian President regarding the arrest and detention of Professor Hasan Nafaa, Professor Hazem Hosni and Professor Magdi Kerqar.
- 31 October 2019 - Letter to Israeli PM Protesting Israeli violations of Palestinian academic freedom.
- 12 September 2019 - Letter from BRISMES protesting against Israeli violations of Palestinian academic freedom.
2019 - Letter to Professor Dame Janet Beer on the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
- 24 January 2019 - BRISMES letters on the death of Giulio Regeni and government response.
- 2016-2018 - Letter to UAE authorities regarding the detention of Matthew Hedges.
- 2018 - BRISMES is now a signatory to the MESA statement on academic freedom in Turkey.
- 21 July 2016 - Letter to Turkish Prime Minister regarding academic freedom in Turkey.
- 19 January 2016
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