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Published online 10 December 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/456680b
France cracks down on Iranian scientists
Agency tightens rules for foreign visitors.
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I believe this is clearly violating the freedom of scientific research and mixing research with political issues. The fact that some scientists are born in Iran doesn't mean they are dangerous or terrorists,..., but this new law basically means everyone born in Iran is potentially a danger and inadmissible in scientific areas. Considering the great contributions of Iranian/ Persians to science in the past as well as present, France's new law is very unfair and irresponsible! Specially from a country that claims to be the origin of modern democracy and freedom.
There are two points in this News article. One is on scientists as individuals, where I totally agree with the view that anyone should be equal and judged for his merit and relevance of his project, whatever his nationality, faith, skin color and gender. The other is on the projects themselves, which can and have to be the object of scrutiny, with criteria ranging from the obvious scientific soundness to economy and society. This obviously leads to controversy, but it is to each community to decide on what is eligible and acceptable and what is not, and it applies for in-house projects as well as for international ones.
I am an Iranian physicist currently living and working in Iran at IPM. Last year my student was invited to give a seminar at a well-known workshop (Moriond). Since the invitation was from a French institute he had to apply for French visa (In fact the meeting was supposed to take place in Italian Alps). My student waited in long queues in cold winter almost everyday for almost a month. Sometimes he had to the embassy as early as 2 am (Yes! at night). He had to stand up all the time because there was no seat or any other facility. In the end they refused to issue him the visa. The inviters were well-known distinguished French scientists who could much better than anybody including the clarks in the consulate figure out whether a project is a threat or not! And of course their judgement was that it was not otherwise they would not invite someone who might be a threat to their country. We regularly go to Italy, Switerland and other European countries. In their embassies, they treat us with respect. Obtaining their visas is not a hassle. It is only Franch embassy that has such an unacceptable behavior. We expect the clarks of the French embassy in our country to pay more respect to the judgement of their own scientists.
I have been in the past a regular visitor of CNRS scientists and French academic institutions, both as a researcher, and as an expert to judge the quality of projects and research groups. I have always been amazed by the amount of senseless bureaucracy one is confronted with, even when invited as an expert. But this one definitely knocks the cover off the ball. As a researcher of Iranian descent I am particularly appalled and disgusted by this procedure, and if the story pans out to be true, I will certainly stop any collaboration with CNRS or any of their affiliated institutions. Amin Shokrollahi - Lausanne
I confirm such an absurd attitude from our authorities. We invited an iranian collaborator for being examiner in a PhD defence in November (2008). He applied for a visa in July. In October the embassy had not yet given an answer. The director of our lab contacted both the french embassy in Tehran and the ministry of foreign office to stress on the importance of this visit for the team: the answer of our speakers was that the speed of treatment of this file did not depend on them, point. Eventually, the visa was delivered ... two days before the defence, when it was administratively much too late to have our guest paid back his mission, and almost impossible to organize the travel in due time. Difficult not to see in this apparent airyness a deliberate insult for our collaborator and his compatriots, plus an extremely despizing sign for us scientists, whose work and interests were absolutely ignored in this case. C. Quilliet, Grenoble
A couple of month ago, our group at George-August University, Goettingen, got some beamtime at the state-of-the-art microfucus beamline at ESRF in Grenoble, France. But two days before travel, after having arranged the trip, guest house, doing the frustrating safety instruction etc, I was informed by the ESRF security office that "French authorities" did not authorize my visit to ESRF, without providing me with any further information. The experiment I wanted to perform was an absolutely harmless and routine crystallographic measurement under direct supervision of my PhD supervisor. I found it a clear example of scientific discrimination in the heart of Europe, in a country with a long-standing claim of human rights! Now, according to this article, it seems not to be a mistake, but a small part of a more serious plan against a nation.
I am a "Directeur de recherche" at CNRS and I confirm such an absurd attitude from our authorities. On July 2006 I organized an international workshop and there were 4 Iranian scientists whose papers were accepted. I had sent them all the necessary acceptation and invitation letters with copies to the French embassy. During 2007 and 2008, I had selected a few excelent candidates between a great number of applications for PhD programs, Post-docs and sabbatical year to come to our laboratory (L2S, UMR8506, CNRS-SUPELEC-UNIV PARIS Sud 11), and as required I requested the authorisation and I got negative answer. With the director of our lab we even wrote letters to the direction of CNRS to implore this situation and to stress on the importance of these scientific exchanges. We did not get any answer. Once, I have been invited for a conference in Iran as a keynote speaker, but again I could not go to that conference due to the security authorities recommendation. This situation is absolutely not acceptable for the scientific community. Ali Mohammad-Djafari, Directeur de recherche au CNRS.
I don't know from what point that attitude came to action but this summer I sensed it truly. The length that it took for a PhD student's visa (any subject of research, mine was management and I had been in France before)to get issued was obviously longer than the same length for master students (even though for them took long too!) I heard from many Iranian researchers that were to present their research papers in different conferences in France this summer(regular 4,5 days conferences) that the embassy was not clear about issuing their visa until the last moments and at last rejected them one day before their flight! That does not concern only the researchers. One of my colleague's wife hasn't received her visa yet after more than six months and she just wanted to accompany her husband who is studying here. The situation was clearly different a couple of years ago.
The first EU member to practise such restrictions was most likely the Netherlands. I guess Germany (a report in Spiegel mentioned that) proposed something similar. I do not know whether Germans have made it into a practical law. Now France. I find it a, what is now normal, racist attitude and guess it has nothing to do with politics. The reality we have to get along with.
It didn't take long for antisemitism to rear its head did it? To Reza Kelishadi, the problem isn't the Jews, its the Iranian Government.
To Reza Kelishadi: please stop this Ahmadinejad-type arguments which tend to blame Zionists for anything happening on this planet. To Michael Chisnall: please stop abuse of history.
I appreciated France policy and I hope that all other developed countries would follow this policy. It may awaken Iranian researchers (and generally third world) to avoid considering immigration and it hopefully lead to stronger domestic research and development.
Science is one of the social forums that people with different colors and cultures have unique language and can talk and discuss based on logic and morality. This policy of France with certainly stop the instructive dialogs between the Iranian researchers and French ones. That will let the hard lines from the both sides to find a proper situation for developing dogmatism in the society. The price of this policy then will be much higher than what was expected by the politicians.
I think a part of problem comes from the fact that politicians are making the decisions and they have really no concept of what is going on in the social layer beyond the political cover of Iran authorities. They seem to try for stopping or failing the current political minority but what comes out of their decision is more pressure on ordinary people and specially researchers and scholars who are the strongest opposition of Iran?s government. I can?t forget how inappropriate behaved the European embassies (France and The Netherlands specially)when I had applied for visa.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 1. says:"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood." and Article 26._2 says: "Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace." And at last, Article 30. says:"Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein." Do you see any agreement between French policy and The Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Judge yourself. Be honest. Hannah Arendt, the renowned political philosopher in her most influential work, The Human Condition (1958) distinguishes between labor, work, and action, and explores the implications of these distinctions. Briefly, categories of the vita activa are as follows, according to Ardent: 1.Labor, defines as lowest human behavior which done to surmount her/his fundamental requirements such as food, covering, etc. 2.Work: Those kinds of human behavior attributes to make change in nature to get a better life and understanding. Science, knowledge and technology are classified in this group. 3.Action: Human Action is reserved for purposive human behavior that takes place in the presence of other people. Human communications,exchanges of thoughts and emotions are contained in this category. In fact two previous categories should be lead to this one. Now, Does French policy lead to a better understanding among humans and help to have peace? I don't think so, while I certainly know that the cause may be searched elsewhere, in our government behavior. While I object French policy, I think it should a notice for Iranians in order to force themselves to fight for a better life. To change the governing non-human conditions in Iran.
Dear Masoud Alipour, These days, scientific research is an international endeavor. By closing the windows towards outside, no nation has any chance of progress in research. Even in a country like USA which has a well-established and promoinent scietific community they heavily invest in inviting lecturers and speakers from abroad and in sending their scietists to meetings or courses held abroad. Iran has recently (and very gradually) started to have a little say in the world-class scientific scene. In fact, we regularly hold international meeting in our institute in which scientists and students from around the world participate. Last year a student came from the USA and spend few months here in Iran working on a project under supervision of one of the researchers in our institute. We go abroad to participate in meetings or as post-docs but this does not mean we want to immigrate and leave our country forever. Such exchanges are vital for progress. To stop or normalize brain drain, the living conditions inside Iran has to be improved. Closing the doors is not a good solution. In fact, if those Iranian students who are currently abroad realize in case they return they will be denied going to conferences abroad, they may stop to consider returning to Iran even if the salaries back home is higher than what they would earn abroad.
Salam They can not do anything,except they accelerate the progress of IRAN. When they reject a PhD student or ... from getting VISA, The governors of Iran become more happy. Because these Students have to work in IRAN and they accelerate the progress of Iran in spite of all limitations. For example the Canadian embassy rejected my wife for getting VISA for PhD degree in McGill. So she decided to continue her education in IRAN under Ministry of Science Scholarship. I must say: Thank you Canadian Embassy for this Action loll :)(That is Rejecting my wife for getting VISA). Babak from IRAN
I've been in many countries and did research... I think the major difference between USA, Canada and Europe specially FRANCE, is that USA and Canadian culture is more open and that's why they are more developed.... So French government lose the chance to have Iranian scientists (as we know Arians are so clever) and stagnate before USA like before. VIVE LES SCIENCES pas la politique!!!
I decided to participate in a Nanotechnology conference in Rio de janeiro, Brazil last June. For this purpose I applied for a transit visa in French embassy in Tehran but they refused my application for a transit visa just for a 3 hour stop in Paris airport. I can not undrestand the real reasons behind these decisions.
Not so sure my comment is topical but it is certainly not too far off topic. I have an e-friend that lives in Iran. Our friendship began as a means for him to learn English. We have communicated via many forums for years. He is in petrol industry. The scholar after a very long time asked if I had any work in fluid dynamics I wished to share that he might find useful in his work. I was fearful to send anything to him due to the current climate in US. After checking with several supposed authorities and agencies both scientific and governmental; I cannot say I ever received a definitive answer. So I chose to ensure that any research results I considered sending had no Federal funds in the research and in no way could be interpreted as militarily sensitive. It is the world we now find ourselves in. I cannot change it but maybe you can. Granting visas should not be handed out to just anyone but certainly there exist means to establsih criteria founded on a case-by-case basis.
My girlfriend is an Iranian physicist, graduated in Nanotechnology in the Netherlands. In early spring 2008, she got a PhD offer in the Nano-bio-physics group at ESPCI in Paris granted by CNRS: studying the conformation of proteins with fluorescent microscopy. She applied for visa in the French consulate in Amsterdam. Five months and countless number of phone calls passed with no reply; impossible to achieve any explanation. A completely impenetrable system with always the same answer: "Consulate is not supposed to provide any information to the applicants or contact other organizations involved, please wait". Powerless were scientific attachés of the Embassy, the director of the lab in Paris, the head of ESPCI, all the CNRS divisions involved in her enrollment. All they could suggest was: ?go back to Iran and apply from there!? without having any idea of how a foreign embassy works in Tehran. She kept waiting in Amsterdam even two months after the official date of her contract in Paris, and the expiration date of her Dutch residence permit. Not to mention with no income, living in an expensive city also paying the rent of a flat in Paris where she never lived. Under all that pressure she finally decided to give up with France and apply for another position in the Netherlands. She was very welcomed and surprisingly she received a four year Dutch resident permit in less than two weeks! It astonishes how European governments react differently on a similar matter while as a European union one expects common policy.
I am an Iranian PhD student of physics and I am doing my PhD in Iran at Sharif university of technology. I was suppose to do one part of my PhD thesis in collaboration with people at IAP (Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris under CNRS). Unfortunately, after spending lots of time and getting Marie-Curie fellowship, I could not get the French visa to stay in Paris for about 4 months. I reserved a hostel and I paid for 1 month before. After about 6 months I submitted my documents, I have no response from the embassy. Even the embassy people didn't tell me why they cannot give me the visa. I was supposed to collaborate in a cosmological project which is not a threat at al. Now, I missed my valuable time and my money because of the political issues. I am sure that this is against the laws of human rights. Unfortunately, the situation is getting worse and worse day by day. I know many Iranian students that refuse to apply for any conference in France because they are almost sure that they would waste their time in the queue of French embassy.
Some personal experience: having grown up in the UK with dual French-British citizenship, I applied for a French ID card for practical reasons when I studied in France in the 80s; it took me ages to do this because there was always some document missing... I attributed these difficulties to the fact that at the time, Charles Pasqua was head of the Interior Ministry, and he was not exactly "welcoming" towards foreigners. Currently, the Ministère de l'immigration (based on the last Presidential campaign and the opinions expressed at the time, you could almost qualify it as a Ministry of the Front National; read "le Canard Enchaîné") has the same views towards most foreigners (usually those with different religions or skin colour) and they will certainly not be very welcomed in France. The political stand-off between Iran and the rest of the world certainly won't help. Additionally, I attended a congress in Turin (Italy) in September; most if not all the posters by Iranian students were retracted, replaced in some instances with a small notice with the words "Couldn't obtain a Visa"; but we have all read in the news about the views in Italy towards certain foreigners...
POSTED ON BEHALF OF AYOUB KAVIANI I am among the Iranian scientists whose visa has been rejected by the French government in 2008. It was really surprising for me to see that my demand was rejected. I have been involved in a 10-year collaboration between the Iranian and French research institutes on the earth sciences since 1998. In 2001, I started my PhD on seismology at LGIT, France using a fellowship by the French Embassy in Tehran. I oblige to express my utmost gratitude to the French government for supporting me doing my PhD. I completed my PhD in 2004 and came back to Iran and started my work as a research seismologist at International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology. I spent again four months from September 2006 to January 2007 at LGIT working on a common project on the lithosphere structure in Iran using data already gathered through the collaboration. The last time in summer 2008, I decided to go to LGIT to spend two months again and then to attend a workshop held in Paris in October 6-7, 2008 on the 10-year of French-Iranian collaboration on geosciences. This last time, however, my visa was rejected very surprisingly without letting me know the reason. I really regret of the policy behind that decision. We have had very tight collaboration with our French colleagues during last 10 years without any problem. I believe the security system of the French government might be informed of the history of our stay in France and the only reason for rejecting our visa demand seems to be some political motive that has no justification. I hope things will change on a right path and we can continue our collaboration with our French colleagues and friends. Ayoub Kaviani IASBS, Zanjan, Iran
This is indeed very sad and unfair. There are so many brilliant Iranian scientists and they must be able to discuss and distribute their science all around the world. In science, collaboration means everything.