CHINA: Historian released but unable to travel

Tohti Tunyaz, a Uighur historian and writer from China, was released last month after spending 11 years in prison. Tohti was sentenced for "illegally acquiring state secrets" after receiving a copy of a list of documents relating to the second East Turkestan Independence Movement and pre-1949 Xinjiang history. He was also convicted of "instigating national disunity" after allegedly publishing a book in Japan titled The Inside Story of the Silk Road that was claimed to promote ethnic separatism.

At the time of his arrest, Tohti was studying for a PhD in Uighur history and ethnic relations at Tokyo University. According to his Japanese supervisor, the book Tohti allegedly published in 1998 does not exist and little proof has been discovered to suggest otherwise.

The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN (WiPC) and the Network for Concerned Historians (NCH) say Tohti is being prevented from rejoining his family in Japan after being released from prison.

AFGHANISTAN: Evidence suggests that Kambaksh should be released
New evidence has emerged in the case of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, an Afghan student convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to 20 years in prison. The 24-year-old student was convicted after downloading an essay which questioned Islam's treatment of women, with prosecutors pinning their case on claims he wrote part of the text himself.

The Independent reports that the real author of that essay, and the man behind the website where it was first published, have insisted all the material is theirs. The author, a 25-year-old Iranian living in Europe with the pen name 'Arash', has refuted claims from key prosecutors that Kambaksh contributed anything to the essay.

Arash's eight-page article, entitled Misogynistic Verses of the Koran was first published on a website run by an Iranian refugee living in Manchester, The Independent said.

The case sparked worldwide protests after it emerged that Kambaksh was convicted in a closed court without access to a defence lawyer. Last week, Afghanistan's Supreme Court upheld his conviction in secret without hearing his defence.

Kambaksh's lawyer, Afzal Nooristani, said the latest testimony about the origins of the essay could help return the case to court or even convince Afghan President Hamid Karzai to issue a pardon.

VIETNAM: Rare student protest gets results
Officials of Hong Bang University in Ho Chi Minh City decided to cancel a tuition fee increase after hundreds of protesters took to the streets, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. The demonstrators created traffic jams as students waved signs and shouted slogans in protest against the fee rise.

Officials said they realised the added cost would have hit families hard, especially as Vietnam's economy is suffering from a decline in export orders and unemployment is on the rise.

UK: Oxbridge universities fail to enrol ethnic minorities
Oxford and Cambridge universities are still failing to increase significantly the number of places given to ethnic minority students, despite being given nearly £1 million (US$1.5 million) a year each by the government to widen access, The Guardian reports.

The UK's most ancient universities are under political pressure to open up access to a wider range of students. Both universities have increased the proportion of students from state schools this year, although at Oxford applications from Indian and Chinese UK students actually fell, with a corresponding decline in the numbers gaining entry.

The two universities say they cannot select ethnic minority students if they do not apply and insist they are making strenuous efforts to attract more applications. The university says it is committed to attracting, selecting and supporting students from any race or background.

US: Government urged to lift ban on foreign scholars
A coalition of academic and civil liberties groups is calling on the Obama administration to break with the Bush administration's policies on blocking visas of some foreign scholars. The announcement comes just before the appeal hearing next week of Tariq Ramadan, a respected Swiss academic and Muslim scholar who had a job secured at the University of Notre Dame in 2004, but was prevented from entering the country by the Bush administration.

The New York Times reports that the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Academy of Religion, the American Association of University Professors and PEN American Center, claimed that they had a First Amendment right to hear Professor Ramadan, who had visited the US dozens of times in the years before his visa was blocked.

The government responded by arguing that Ramadan had made contributions to a charity in Switzerland the Treasury Department later categorised as a terrorist organisation. The Obama administration has given no indication what course it will take.

* Jonathan Travis is programme officer for the Network for Education and Academic Rights (NEAR).
www.nearinternational.org