Madam, - We write to express our concern as part of a growing international campaign regarding the fate of a respected academic colleague and scholar, Prof Ghazi Falah, from the geography department at the University of Akron in Ohio, USA.
Prof Falah was arrested in Haifa, Israel, on Saturday July 8th for allegedly taking photographs at a holiday resort. Since then, he has remained detained without charge and without access to legal counsel.
On July 17th, the authorities denied his access to a lawyer for a further 10 days.
Prof Falah, who holds dual Arab-Israeli and Canadian citizenship, is a highly respected political geographer who has been publishing his research in leading international academic journals for nearly two decades. Like many other academic geographers, he regularly took photographs of everyday settings during his travels for use in his research and teaching. His arrest has far-reaching implications for the broader academic community and particularly for those researching and writing from places of conflict.
Since being arrested, Ghazi has been refused access to a lawyer, consulate staff, and family or other visitors, all of which is in defiance of Articles 9, 10 and 11 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
We call upon the Israeli authorities to respect basic legal and human rights by allowing Prof Falah legal, consular and family visits immediately. - Yours, etc,
Dr JOHN MORRISSEY, Dr PATRICK COLLINS, STEPHANIE EGAN, Dr FRANCES FAHY, SHARON LEAHY, CAROLINE McHUGH, RICO SANTIAGO, Prof ULF STROHMAYER, Department of Geography, NUI Galway; Prof ROB KITCHIN, Department of Geography, NUI Maynooth; Prof JAMES ANDERSON, Prof FREDERICK BOAL, GEMMA CATNEY, Dr DIARMID FINNEGAN, Dr CHRISTOPHER LLOYD, Dr STEPHEN ROYLE, School of Geography, Queen's University Belfast; Dr PADRAIG CARMODY, Department of Geography, St Patrick's College, Drumcondra 9; HOUNAIDA ABI HAIDAR, KATIA ATTUYER, PAULA BRUDELL, Dr ANNA DAVIES, RORY HEARNE, Dr FREEA ITZSTEIN-DAVEY, JULIUS KOMOLAFE, Dr ANNALEIGH MARGEY, Dr IRENE STRATI, Dr CHARLES TRAVIS, JEAN WILSON, Department of Geography, Trinity College Dublin; Dr DARIUS BARTLETT, Dr FIONA CAWKWELL, Dr DENIS LINEHAN, Dr DAVID NALLY, Dr EILEEN O'ROURKE, Dr COLIN SAGE, ROSE WALSH Dr ALLEN WHITE, Department of Geography, University College Cork; Dr MARY GILMARTIN, Dr NIAMH MOORE, School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Policy, University College Dublin; Dr PATRICK O'CONNOR, Department of Sociology, University of Limerick; Dr PAUL DUNLOP, SARA McDOWELL, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Ulster.