UAE: Detained Activist Freed, Questions on Academic Freedom Arise

Human Rights Watch reported that Ahmed Mansoor, a member of HRW’s Middle East advisory committee, was released from custody after having been arrested on April 8th.  Mansoor was one of the political activists who recently called for an elected parliament in the UAE.  Two other activists are still in detention, including Nasser bin Ghaith, an economics lecturer at the Abu Dhabi branch of the Sorbonne.

Bin Ghaith’s arrest raises the question of academic freedom for lecturers at local Emirati branch campuses of Western universities have in the country.  HRW’s Samer Muscati asked if professors are, “only protected in the 90 minutes when they are giving seminars, and after that they are fair game?”  In addition to the famed Sorbonne, New York University also operates a branch campus in Abu Dhabi.  The American Association of University Professors have called on NYU’s administration to publicly advocated for Bin Ghaith’s release.  Both NYU and the Sorbonne have been silent about the arrests; Josh Talyor, a spokesman for NYU Abu Dhabi stated: “We believe that we can have a far greater impact on creating a more informed, responsible, and just world, by creating powerful centers of ideas, discourse, and critical thinking, than by simply firing off a press release.”