*Free Binayak Sen Campaign* *March 14, 2008. A year since **Dr Binayak Sen** was arrested on charges of Naxalite links. Twenty two Nobel laureates write to the PM appealing for his freedom*
*HIS EXCELLENCY DR. MANMOHAN SINGH PRIME MINISTER * We, the undersigned Nobel Laureates, congratulate you on the prestigious international honour that will be bestowed for the first time on a citizen of India. As you are no doubt aware, the Global Health Council (GHC), the world's largest membership alliance of public health organisations and professionals, has selected Dr Binayak Sen of Raipur, Chhattisgarh to be the recipient of the 2008 Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights. We write to request that Dr Sen be enabled to receive the award in person at the GHC's Annual Conference in Washington, DC, on May 29, 2008. We also wish to express grave concern that Dr Sen appears to be incarcerated solely for peacefully exercising his fundamental human rights, in contravention of Articles 19 (freedom of opinion and expression) and 22 (freedom of association) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights — to which India is a State party — and that he is charged under two internal security laws that do not comport with international human rights standards. We are pleased to learn that Dr Sen's trial has, after numerous delays, now begun. While the judicial process involving our professional colleague moves forward, we respectfully request that Dr Sen be freed from incarceration on humanitarian grounds to receive his award and to continue his important medical work. Yours sincerely, Peter Agre, Kenneth J. Arrow, Claude Cohen- Tannoudji, Robert Curl, Johann Deisenhofer, Paul Greengard, Roger Guillemin, Francois Jacob, Eric Kandel, Sir Harald Kroto, Finn Kydland, Yuan T. Lee,Craig C. Mello, John Polanyi, Richard J. Roberts, F. Sherwood Rowland, Jens C. Skou, Phillip A. Sharp, Charles Townes, Harold Varmus, Sir John E. Walker, Torsten Wiesel *Also read: The Doctor, The State and a Sinister Case (TEHELKA Issue 7, Dated February 23, 2008) * *Visit: www.binayaksen.net* <http://www.tehelka.com/visit> *From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 20, Dated May 24, 2008* -- Jogesh Many are concerned about the monuments of the West and the East - to know who built them. For my part, I should like to know who in those days did not build them - who were above such trifling. - Henry David Thoreau
