Edinburgh University collaborating with Bahraini government

It was announced this week that the University of Edinburgh has signed a cooperation agreement with Bahrain's repressive authoritarian regime, which is seeking to create a "network of scientific research" that will link academic institutions to business and industry.

This association with Bahrain's Ministry of Education, which has been heavily involved in the brutal crackdown on protestors over the past year, brings shame on the university. Around 50 protestors have been killed and 3,000 detained and tortured in Bahrain since pro-democracy demonstrations began in February 2011. Twenty professors at the University of Bahrain were fired for sympathising with anti-government demonstrations and over 400 students were expelled after a protest on the university campus on March 13th.

Students at the University of Edinburgh were even affected by the Ministry of Education's response in April 2011, when over twenty students across the UK had their bursaries cancelled and were ordered to return to Bahrain after taking part in anti-government protests.

Edinburgh University is collaborating with a regime that, aside from killing and torturing demonstrators, has shown an utter disregard for academic freedom and students' right to peaceful protest.

The Bahrain Justice and Development Movement has written an open letter to the university calling on it to reconsider its support of the Bahraini government.