Looking for Rights at Harvard

"It's outrageous what they have done to him. I admire Afrasiabi for his courage, dignity and the brilliance displayed in his legal battle as a pro se." Howard Zinn, historian and author of A People's History of the United StatesThe harrowing true story of human rights violation at Harvard University and the long battle by the author, a renowned political scientist and author of several books and numerous articles in prestigious journals including Harvard publications, that transpired in courts in Massachusetts and ultimately reached the US Supreme Court.The author, a former research scholar at Harvard, was arrested in 1996 by Harvard University police accusing him of serious crimes of extortion. Afrasiabi was cleared of all the charges. Three years later, the same police officers stood trial in a federal court, charged with conspiracy to frame Afrasiabi in order to silence him.With lucid objectivity, Afrasiabi narrates his ordeal of wrongful imprisonment, studying at a religious seminary after losing his job, and the travails of representing himself against Harvard's attorneys in a civil rights trial featuring such luminaries as the media icon, Mike Wallace, acclaimed filmmaker, David Mamet, and historian Howard Zinn. A modern 'David and Goliath' story, bound to send shivers to anyone concerned about the state of civil rights in America today.Content: Introduction. 1. A False Arrest. 2. A Harvard professor and 'his galpal'. 3. Cruelty that followed. 4. The fictitious crime story. 5. Back to school - of theology and law. 6. Defeating Harvard's motion to dismiss. 7. A federal judge bails out. 8. Harvard judge who wouldn't resign. 9. My attorney walks out on me. 10. A judge defaults the subpoena. 11. Harvard's Kafkaesque matrix. 12. Testimony of Mike Wallace. 13. "It's so critical, it could win the case." 14. Petition to the US Supreme Court. 15. Harvard Gazette's minor omission, 2006. 16. Defending Harvard on CNN. Appendix.