Academics from around the world have protested to Germany's federal prosecutor about the arrest and detention of a Berlin sociologist who is accused of associating with a terrorist group -- apparently on the basis of his academic work.
Andrej Holm, from Berlin's Humboldt University, who specializes in urban gentrification, was arrested three weeks ago on suspicion of aiding a militant organization suspected of carrying out more than 25 arson attacks in Berlin since 2001.
In protest letters the academics from across Europe, the US and Canada said Holm's arrest was based on his academic writings, and the evidence used to connect him to terrorism was at best flimsy.
The federal prosecutor's office arrested Holm on Aug. 1 under paragraph 129a of the anti-terrorism law, citing the repeated use of words such as "gentrification" and "inequality" in his academic papers, terms similar to those used by the urban activist organization "militante gruppe" (mg).
According to the prosecution report the frequency of the overlap between words used by Holm and the group was "striking, and not to be explained through a coincidence."
It also cited the fact that he had twice met three men who were arrested on suspicion of involvement in an arson attack in Brandenburg on July 31 and who are accused of belonging to the mg. The prosecutor's office said it added to the "conspiratorial circumstances" that he did not take his mobile phone to the meetings.
The fact that he and another academic had access to a library meant they were "intellectually in a position to compile the sophisticated texts of the `militante gruppe,'" the prosecutor's office said.
In one of the letters, signed by more than 100 academics, the federal prosecutor, Monika Harms, was urged to release Holm from his single-cell in Berlin's Moabit prison.
"We strongly object to the notion of intellectual complicity adopted by the federal prosecutor's office in its investigation ... such arguments allow any piece of academic writing to be potentially incriminating," the academics said.
Holm, 36, made a name for himself with his research into the effect of urban renewal on residential areas of the German capital since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
"The police may have solid knowledge they are withholding, but their public statements belong in the realm of farce," Richard Sennett, a sociologist at the London School of Economics, and Saskia Sassen, a sociologist at Columbia University, wrote on the Guardian's Comment is Free site.
"This action in a liberal democracy seems more to fall into Guantanamo mode than genuine counterespionage," they said.
‘SHORTSIGHTED’: Using aid as leverage is punitive, would not be regarded well among Pacific Island nations and would further open the door for China, an academic said New Zealand has suspended millions of dollars in budget funding to the Cook Islands, it said yesterday, as the relationship between the two constitutionally linked countries continues to deteriorate amid the island group’s deepening ties with China. A spokesperson for New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters said in a statement that New Zealand early this month decided to suspend payment of NZ$18.2 million (US$11 million) in core sector support funding for this year and next year as it “relies on a high trust bilateral relationship.” New Zealand and Australia have become increasingly cautious about China’s growing presence in the Pacific
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
ESPIONAGE: The British government’s decision on the proposed embassy hinges on the security of underground data cables, a former diplomat has said A US intervention over China’s proposed new embassy in London has thrown a potential resolution “up in the air,” campaigners have said, amid concerns over the site’s proximity to a sensitive hub of critical communication cables. The furor over a new “super-embassy” on the edge of London’s financial district was reignited last week when the White House said it was “deeply concerned” over potential Chinese access to “the sensitive communications of one of our closest allies.” The Dutch parliament has also raised concerns about Beijing’s ideal location of Royal Mint Court, on the edge of the City of London, which has so
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
RSS