The repeated imprisonment of the respected Palestinian astrophysicist Professor Imad Barghouthi, of Al-Quds University, has caused dismay in the international academic community. As a result a letter outlining both the abusive use of the Israeli legal system against him, and the wider pattern of Israeli restrictions on Palestinian academic freedom, was submitted to Nature. The letter was signed by 14 scientists, including leading physicist Freeman Dyson at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton; David Mumford, recipient of the Fields Medal 1974 (the “Nobel prize of math »); and Chandler Davis, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the University of Toronto.

Nature shortened the submitted letter drastically, omitting entirely the context of Israeli assaults on Palestinian higher education. What follows is, first, the letter as printed in Nature; and second, the text of the original letter.

Two open letters on behalf of Professor Barghouthi, signed by hundreds of scientists, were previously sent to the Israeli prime minister->http://www.csun.edu/ vcmth00m/IBletter.html] and to the [European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation.