President. I would like to bring to the attention of my colleagues a compassionate letter that I recently received from Prof. Nahum Meiman. the Soviet Jewish emigration and human rights activist whom I have had the opportunity to meet during visits to the Soviet Union. For more than a decade. Professor Meimans desire to live in his cultural homeland of Israel has been consistently denied. His refusals have been based on the alleged secrecy of his scientific work. despite the fact that in 1975. he was given a signed statement by I.V. Chuvilo. director of the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics. confirming that Nahums work since 1955 had been in the field of abstract mathematics and had been published in open Soviet scientific journals. Nahum describes in his letter his relentless. yet futile. pur..it to be granted permission to emigrate. Of particular concern to him now is the rapidly deteriorating health of his wife. Inna. who has undergone four cancer operations within the last 2 years. Since Inna has never been involved in classified work. Nahum recently asked the Soviet authorities to consider her visa request separately. Nevertheless. her request was denied for security reasons. It is an outrage to any civilized human being that this gravely ill woman. who has received numerous invitations from various countries to receive the medical treatment she desperately needs. is not allowed to leave the Soviet Union because she is considered a threat to her governments security.
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emigrate emigration visa