Science & Policy: Scientists Recognized by the Science and Human Rights Program

On Saturday, 15 February 2003 , AAAS staff recognized the courage and commitment to human rights of Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim of Cairo , Egypt in a special reception at the AAAS Annual Meeting . This is the tenth year that the AAAS Science and Human Rights Program has hosted this reception, which honors a scientist, who, through action and example, has promoted human rights, usually at great personal risk. Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim, working in Cairo before his arrest Dr. Ibrahim is the ideal individual to receive this honor. Dr. Ibrahim, a sociologist, is the founder and director of the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies, a Cairo-based organization that conducts research on democracy, civil society, and minority rights in Egypt and the Arab region. He has been a courageous and moderate voice for human rights in the Arab world. Dr. Ibrahim has suffered great persecution for his advocacy efforts and his sociological analysis of some of Egypt 's most pressing social problems. In the summer of 2000, E gyptian security forces appeared late one night at his house to arrest him. He and 27 of his associates at the Ibn Khaldun Center were taken to a Cairo jail cell and charged with deliberately disseminating false information, spreading malicious rumors about the internal affairs of the State, harming the image of the State abroad, and illegally accepting funds from the European Union. The charges were related to a documentary that the Center had created about voting rights and voter fraud in Egypt . For the next two-and-a-half years, Dr. Ibrahim would face three trials and a seven-year sentence for these charges. His first two trials were held in a State Security Court , which operate as a parallel legal system with far reaching powers to suspend some of the usual rights and protections guaranteed in the civil court system. The Court issued a guilty verdict, which Dr. Ibrahim appealed first within the Security Court system and then to Egypt 's highest appeal court, the Court of Cassation. The Court hear d the case on February 4th and finally acquitted Dr. Ibrahim on March 18. This decision cannot be appealed. Throughout his long court battle, Dr. Ibrahim has insisted on his innocence. He has not been alone in his struggle. The individual who made the original claim of embezzlement of the EU funds later recanted his testimony and claimed that he had been pressured by security forces into making the false allegations. The EU also submitted multiple affidavits to the court, restating its position that none of the $250,000 in grants had been misused. The former head of the Egyptian Supreme Court also testified on Dr. Ibrahim's defense, challenging the constitutionality of the 1992 military decree that made it illegal for Egyptian organizations to accept foreign money without government permission. Dr. Ibrahim's son Amir and daughter Randa attended the reception to speak on their father's behalf. Dr. Ibrahim is awaiting the verdict of his appeal and was unable to leave the country. Another strong advocate of Dr. Ibrahim's has been the international scientific community, whose members have sent appeal letters and petitions to the Egyptian government protesting the charges and the verdict. The AAAS Science and Human Rights Program immediate issued an alert after Dr. Ibrahim's initial arrest in 2000 on the AAAS Human Rights Action Network and closely followed the case, issuing several more AAASHRAN alerts as developments occurred. The American Sociological Association has also been very active in protesting the human rights violations against their Egyptian colleague. In a recent letter to President Mubarak, ASA President Barbara F. Reskin and ASA Executive Officer Sally T. Hillsman wrote: "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." Dr. Ibrahim was released pending his trial at the Court of Cassation after serving over 500 days in prison. His health suffered greatly while he was in prison. He suffers from a neurological disorder that impedes the flow of oxygen to his brain and he was not receiving sufficient medical care for this condition or a broken leg he suffered while in prison. Dr. Ibrahim's children, Randa and Amir traveled to Denver to accept the AAAS recognition on their father's behalf. Randa thanked AAAS for this reception and said that while her father had been recognized by many human rights and international organizations, this honor was particularly meaningful to him because before he was a human rights case and any of the trials began, he was a social scientist and it meant so much to him to be recognized by his peers in the scientific community.