Iranian human rights advocate to speak at University of Richmond
March 15, 2007
Iranian human rights advocate and scholar Mehrangiz Kar will visit University of Richmond March 26 as part of the university's Scholars at Risk program.
Kar will speak on human rights and democracy at 4 p.m. in the Wilton Center Interfaith Room. The lecture, which is open to the public at no charge, will reflect her experiences as a scholar in Iran.
Kar is an internationally known scholar, lawyer and activist working for the promotion of democracy, rule of law and human rights in Iran. In 2000, she was imprisoned following her participation at an international conference in Berlin where she expressed critical views about Iran's legal system. Her four-year sentence was later reduced to six months.
In 2002, Kar received the Ludovic Trarieux Prize in recognition of her life's work and, in 2004, she was honored by Human Rights First. She served as a Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy, the Woodrow Wilson Center, American University, University of Virginia and Columbia University. She was a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard and is currently based at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Scholars at Risk is an international network of universities and colleges working to promote academic freedom and to defend the human rights of scholars worldwide. Among its activities, network members provide temporary sanctuary to scholars who suffer because of their work, prominence or the exercise of fundamental human rights.
Kar's appearance is sponsored by the university's Office of International Education. For more information, call (804) 287-6557.