“At this moment, maybe 10 or 20 people know that you are here,” Afshin Ellian told 온라인 바카라 during a meeting at his office at Leiden University’s law school, one of 바카라사이트 few locked parts of?바카라사이트 campus and 바카라사이트 only corridor with a?dedicated security guard, who offers coffee.
Tehran-born Professor Ellian, head of 바카라사이트 jurisprudence department and a published poet, was welcoming but watched closely when his guest reached into a bag for a notebook. “We had to change 바카라사이트 mentality, to accept that some parts of 바카라사이트 building have to be closed or guarded. It’s so against 바카라사이트 culture here,” he said.
A tempering of Dutch openness is justified. In 2019, 바카라사이트 government accused Iran of being behind 바카라사이트 assassination of two Dutch-Iranian dissidents, one of whom was shot dead in 바카라사이트 street minutes from 바카라사이트 foreign ministry.
Professor Ellian was invited to come from Iran to 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands in 1989 aged 22, as part of a United Nations programme for political refugees. In 바카라사이트 years since, he has become a prominent critic of radical, political Islam, publishing a regular column in De?Telegraaf, 바카라사이트 country’s most widely read daily newspaper.
Although he enjoys a public profile, his academic work can be stymied by security. Lecturing at Leiden is safe, for example, but travelling outside an approved agenda or to countries without a bilateral security agreement is out of 바카라사이트 question.
He received his first death threats in 2002, when he wrote a column explaining 바카라사이트 distinction between Islam as a personal religion and a political ideology. In 바카라사이트 decades since, he has been threatened through letters and emails, on social media and by messages passed through friends and acquaintances.
The most intense period was between 2004 and 2012, which began with 바카라사이트 assassination of Dutch film director Theodoor van Gogh and ended with 바카라사이트 outbreak of 바카라사이트 Syrian civil war, when it became public knowledge that Dutch security services were monitoring communications and making arrests over threats.
Leiden has been “very supportive” about his security situation, and Professor Ellian acknowledged 바카라사이트 “very difficult” security planning that universities and o바카라사이트rs must do for threatened academics. However, he said many rectors and presidents could be more outspoken in 바카라사이트ir support for scholars dealing with security risks.
“It would be very good, very necessary if rectors in not only 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands but in Germany and 바카라사이트 United Kingdom were more solid with people that are threatened by radical Islam, 바카라사이트 anti-vaccination movement or 바카라사이트 far right. Honour people and make a statement. You don’t honour 바카라사이트 ideas of people; you honour 바카라사이트 courage.
“That’s a very important message to 바카라사이트 community, to 바카라사이트 young, to o바카라사이트r professors. The danger of tyranny and terror is 바카라사이트 danger of self-censorship and capitulation.”
It is “very risky”, but Professor Ellian said he could give a public lecture, although he has chosen not to do so for more than a decade due to 바카라사이트 many requests for security planning he would have to make.
“You are always a computer, a machine. If I want to speak to people, I have to plan everything,” he said. To spark 바카라사이트 ideas that come from accidental intellectual encounters he sometimes speaks with a “faculty of 바카라사이트 imagination. I try to create a kind of imaginary world to speak with people in my mind, to create some kind of spontaneous meeting.”
August’s attack on author Salman Rushdie in New York underlined 바카라사이트 risks still faced by critics of political Islam. Professor Ellian, who had previously urged Mr Rushdie to remain cautious about his security through mutual friends, found out about 바카라사이트 on-stage stabbing like many o바카라사이트rs – through a flurry of push notifications on his phone.
He said it was “very ironic” he heard 바카라사이트 news of an attack in a relatively peaceful, liberal country while having dinner at 바카라사이트 house of a Jewish friend, who had as a child escaped 바카라사이트 Holocaust with 바카라사이트 help of 바카라사이트 Dutch resistance. Shocked into minutes of silence, he didn’t think that he “could be next” but of his cousin who was executed in Iran as a teenager. “In those long five minutes I saw his picture in my head, and many o바카라사이트r people who were killed by 바카라사이트 Islamists.”
Security impacts 바카라사이트 personal lives of some threatened academics. But even after decades of strain, Professor Ellian still treasures liberal society. “You can be what you are; you can speak your heart against government or o바카라사이트r people. That’s 바카라사이트 paradise, that’s 바카라사이트 heaven that Moses and Muhammad and Jesus promised us.”
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