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13-5-2007
 January 16, 2007
Prime Minister Mohammad bin Rashid
Al Maktoum
c/o United
Arab Emirates Embassy in Washington, DC
Fax: 202-243-2432
Dear Prime Minister Shaikh Maktoum:
I am writing to you on behalf of
the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee
on Academic Freedom. We wish to convey to you our great concern regarding the
October arrest and questioning of an American scholar, Assistant Professor Syed
Ali, and his subsequent expulsion from Dubai.
Given that a growing number of US universities have branches or programs in Dubai, Professor Ali’s
case, as detailed below, raises serious concerns about the ability of other
faculty to pursue their research without harassment or fear of expulsion.
The Middle East Studies
Association of North America (MESA) was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship
and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa.
The preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the
International Journal of Middle East Studies and has more than 2700 members
worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring
academic freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in
connection with the study of the region in North America
and elsewhere.
Syed Ali teaches in the Department
of Sociology at Long Island
University, and was the
recipient of a prestigious Fulbright fellowship, a grant which provided the
funding enabling him and his family to travel to the UAE so that he could
conduct his research. On 22 October 2006, five men in dishdashas who refused to
identify themselves, and one woman identified as a member of the police force, presented
Professor Syed Ali with a court order to search-and-confiscate. The six came to
the home of the professor’s friend, where he had been for only three days
awaiting the arrival of his wife and son in Dubai. This was also only one day before the
professor and his family were scheduled to take a flight to India.
The five men searched the
apartment thoroughly and confiscated the professor’s laptop computer and also
his iPod, backup CDs, hand-written notes, and computer printouts. Then they
told him that he had to go with them. His wife, Eli, who had arrived a few hours
earlier, said that she and their son Sami wanted to accompany him, but the six
would not allow this. Nor did they allow her to retain her husband’s mobile
phone, even though she had no telephone of her own and knew no one in Dubai. They then took
Professor Ali to the police headquarters in Deira, where they made him put his
head down so that his face would not be visible through the window, before they
took him into the compound through a side gate.
Once inside, Professor Ali was
interrogated for approximately thirteen hours by two men, one of whom claimed
that he had studied in Russia.
The professor asked whether the US
consulate had been informed about his arrest. The men answered “yes.” The
questioning concentrated on the professor’s background: where he was born; when
he came to the United States;
his educational history; and his employment history. Interspersed with these
questions were sudden interjections: Why did you come to Dubai? Who is funding you? Why are you asking
so many questions about locals? Who gave you permission to come? Professor Ali
has told us that he answered all their questions but they did not accept his
answers, asking him the same things over and over again. He also says that at
no time were the questioners violent; they did not even raise their voices.
Meanwhile, the professor’s wife
had gone to a hotel near the friend’s apartment to call the US consulate. As
a Fulbright fellow, Ali and his family were traveling under the sponsorship of
the US Department of State. Contrary to the assurances given him by the
interrogators, neither the ambassador nor the consul general had been informed
about his arrest. They were able to locate him after more than nine hours of
attempts, and managed to arrange for his release. Comparing notes afterward, it
seems that the interrogators halted the questioning at about the same time that
the US
consulate received word that Ali would be released. They departed, leaving him
alone in the interrogation room for about two hours. Then a superior officer
appeared. Professor Ali asked if he was being charged. The officer replied that
he could be held for 48 hours without charge. The officer also stated that he
had been asking too many questions about Emirates and expatriates, and since
Professor Ali had not answered satisfactorily, they would be keeping his files,
although they would return his laptop after they had taken the data from it. Then
he would have to leave on the next available flight. When he asked to be able
to take his scheduled flight to India,
the officer agreed, but told Professor Ali that when he returned to the United States, he would be forbidden to transit
through Dubai. He
would be arrested if he attempted to enter Dubai again.
The next day, Professor Ali was
informed by telephone that his belongings would be returned; concerned because
the caller did not identify himself, the professor arranged to meet him at a
mall. There he met two men, neither of whom showed any identification. When
asked, one said that he did not have to show his identification. Professor Ali
was instructed to write a receipt stating that his electronic equipment had
been returned in “best operating condition” even though the iPod he was given
was not his own, and his computer was missing both its hard drive and operating
system. Soon after that, an embassy car took the professor his wife and son to
the airport to board their scheduled flight to India.
Professor Ali has no idea why he
was arrested and his property confiscated and destroyed. He had been in the UAE
for only a short time when these events transpired and no charges were filed
against him. In addition to frightening the professor and his family, these men,
apparently agents of the UAE government also destroyed his equipment and
confiscated his notes and printouts. Moreover, the apparent decision to ban
Professor Ali from returning to Dubai
will impede his ability to complete the field work for his book, thus delaying
or obstructing the publication of work necessary for him to retain his
university position.
We ask that you investigate these
events and request that the agents responsible return his notes and printouts
and compensate Professor Syed Ali for the cost of replacing his computer. We
also ask that you consider inviting him back to the UAE under your protection
so that he can complete his research.
Thank you for your attention to
this important matter. We look forward to your positive response.
Sincerely,
Zachary Lockman
MESA President
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