US Bars Sandinista Academic

More than 120 North American academics have begun campaigning to get the US state department to change its mind about banning a leading figure from the Nicaraguan Sandinista revolution from teaching in the US.

Dora María Téllez has been prevented from teaching at Harvard because she is considered to have taken part in "terrorist acts" - the Sandinistas' overthrow of the dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979.

Ms Téllez was due to take up the post of Robert F Kennedy visiting professor of Latin American Studies at Harvard this spring when she was told that she would not be allowed to enter the country.

She has visited the US on many occasions in her profession as a historian. The decision to ban her appears to have been taken in response to the new national "anti-terror" policies.

"The accusation made by the state department against Dora María Téllez is not only a grave violation of her human rights but also amounts to political persecution of those who have engaged in overthrowing the atrocious dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza in Nicaragua," the petition says.

It likens her position to that of Nelson Mandela, who was also once accused of being the member of a terrorist organisation. "Today, the US administration puts in danger the life and security of many persons by arbitrarily accusing them of involvement in 'terrorist activities'."

Academics from Harvard, Notre Dame, the University of San Diego and other North American universities have signed the petition.