BRISMES Committee on Academic Freedom Annual Report

Restrictions on Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression in and Concerning the Middle East and North Africa

Cases Documented by the BRISMES Committee on Academic Freedom (2025–2026)

This report documents all cases addressed by the BRISMES Committee on Academic Freedom (CAF) and BRISMES Council between 1 January 2025 and 31 May 2026 concerning restrictions on academic freedom, freedom of expression, and the right to education in and concerning the Middle East and North Africa. The BRISMES CAF was set up in 2019 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. The report covers developments in the United Kingdom and Europe, as well as in the Middle East and North Africa region. Taken together, the cases reveal how academic freedom, freedom of expression, and the right to education are being constrained through a range of institutional, legal, political, and military mechanisms.

The report will be published online in July. If you would like to receive an electronic copy when it is published, please email office@brismes.org.