Preliminary relief for ESL PhD candidate in Gaza case rejected

The preliminary injunction filed by PhD candidate Ahmed Maged to regain his position at the Erasmus School of Law as soon as possible was rejected by the preliminary relief judge on Thursday. According to the Rotterdam court, there is ‘insufficient urgency’ to warrant a decision at this stage, and Maged can await the regular legal process.

Maged had filed a preliminary injunction against the Erasmus University’s College of Supervisors in an attempt to be reinstated in his PhD position at the Erasmus School of Law. He lost that position on 31 August after refusing to continue working under his supervisor. His request for a different supervisor had been rejected by the faculty.

PhD track can continue

The candidate’s PhD trajectory is part of the European Doctorate in Law & Economics (EDLE) programme, which takes place at three universities: Bologna, Hamburg and Rotterdam, with Rotterdam acting as coordinator. Since Maged still has supervisors in the other universities and won’t defend his dissertation yet in the coming two years, the judge sees no reason for an immediate decision.

The judge also found Maged’s concern that he would no longer meet the EDLE programme’s requirements to be unfounded. “Although the preliminary relief judge understands that Maged wants clarity about the future course of his PhD track (…) he has not made it sufficiently plausible that his PhD will face unacceptable consequences in the short term”, the ruling states.

‘Nazi Arabs’

Maged refused to continue working under his supervisor due to an open letter the professor signed last year. That letter described accusations of genocide against Israel as antisemitic. He also had serious objections to (re)tweets by the director of the EDLE programme, which included claims that there was no hunger in Gaza and that Palestinians were ‘bloodthirsty Nazi Arabs’. This is the same professor that the Muslim Rights Watch opened a  hotline for and a protest and counter-protest were held on campus.

The PhD candidate then launched a public campaign against the director, sending emails to large groups of staff and posting on LinkedIn, in which she was mentioned by name. The EDLE director filed a complaint about ‘threatening and inappropriate emails’, which was upheld by the Undesirable Conduct Committee (COG).

A date for the substantive hearing of his objection against Erasmus University has yet to be determined.