Mauvaise nouvelle

Vous vous souvenez de la pétition que je vous avais proposée? Sur l'exlusion des étudiants iraniens de certaines études aux Pays-Bas? La semaine passée j'ai reçu une mauvaise nouvelle de leur part...

Dear Sir or Madam:

Last January, we protested - with your support - against the exclusion of Iranian students and scientists from two Dutch universities. Our petition was signed by more than 4000 people, including hundreds of academics; 300 Professors from inside and outside the Netherlands signed the petition. Thanks to this impressive protest from the academic world, the measure was withdrawn in the very same month. We would like to express our gratitude for your support, and truly hope that you keep supporting us in our struggle against exclusion in higher education.

The Dutch Government promised to reconsider the measure in January. Unfortunately, the latest development in this case has not been what we all had hoped for. The Dutch ministers Verhagen and Plasterk have decided to exclude Iranians from five locations as well as nine fields of study. It is remarkable that this measure also explicitly includes Dutch students from Iranian descent, thus, introducing a kind of second-rate citizenship. We believe that the measure is against the Dutch Constitution and various international conventions. We will, therefore, initiate a legal procedure, appealing to the equality principle. The ministerial measure is, further, not effective, since various experts have already stated that in their curricula no sensitive or dangerous information is being taught.

As starting a legal procedure is a costly affair, we plan to organize a fund raising event. We will inform you about this later. It goes without saying that any contribution that one could make will be a great help for us at this moment.

Sincerely Yours,
Campagne of Iranian Students
http://www.iraansestudenten.nl/#English