Rights Watchdog Condemns Dismissal of Two Azhar Univ. Students

Sawaseya Center for Human Rights and Prevention of Discrimination released- on December 5, 2006, a statement in which it condemned the decision of Azhar University of dismissing two students from the Faculty of Pharmacists , depicting it as an arbitrary measure.


The statement, a copy of which was obtained by Ikhwanweb, said that the two students were kicked out of the university on charges of participating in the Free Student Union election” which students resorted to after the university administration and security agencies had nationalized the student union election”.


About 2000 students from the Faculty of Pharmacists staged demonstrations, on Monday December 4, 2006, demanding the university to repeal the decision of dismissing the Secretary-General of the Free Student Union, Mohammed Ahmed Al Sanhawi, a four graded student, and his aide, Ahmed Anwar, the former was dismissed for a month while the latter was dismissed for two weeks. The students staged demonstrations after the Dean of the Faculty, Dr. Fatehi Salama insisted that he would not retreat from the decision.


The centre received a complaint from student Mohammed Al Sanhawi in which he said that to single him out for dismissal from the faculty will do harm to his future especially that he came first to his colleagues and that this decision, if enforced, will deny him access to the exams which will start as of Thursday December 14, 2006 as well as the midterm tests which will kick off on Wednesday. The student also complained that some professors denied him access into classes except after the end of the problem, given that a student of Faculty of Pharmacists is denied sitting for the midyear term exam if he fails to attend the class for five consecutive times. Al Sanhawi added that he met University Vice-President Dr. Abdul Fadheel Taha who demanded that students end their demonstrations and cancel the Free Student Union as a prerequisite for the university to go back from the decision. Colleagues of the students met University President Dr. Ahmed el Tayeb who promised them to resolve the problem, adding that he was not notified of the dismissal decision.


Sawaseya Center in its statement sees that the dismissal decision is part of the university administration policy aimed to stifle the growing resentment among students which reached its climax when students crafted, earlier last month, the idea of the Free Student Union within universities after they were denied free and fair election. The centre expressed its shock and disbelief of this act on the part of the university which didn’t stop at dismissal decision but it went as far as to refer Secretary Generals and their aides in the Free Student Union to disciplinary panels. The statement expressed  its solidarity with the dismissed students in any legal step they take to maintain their rights. It called on Al  Azhar university to revoke the ” arbitrary decision”, demanding the Dean of the Faculty to give the very reason for his insistence not  to backtrack from his decision.


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