Former NBA star, human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Enes Kanter Freedom will participate in “Friends of Freedom,” a Q&A event set for Feb. 27 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. in Rice University’s Herring Hall, Room 100.
The event is free and open to the public; no RSVPs are required.
Freedom, who has received international attention for his crusade for human rights in Turkey and other places around the world, will share insights and experiences in fostering peace and understanding among communities and nations of the world. The event is hosted by Craig Considine, a senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Rice.
“Enes Freedom is one of the world’s foremost human rights activists. He is an outspoken critic of authoritarianism,” said Considine, a scholar of Christian and Muslim relations. “His interfaith basketball camps and programs uniting Jews, Christians and Muslims are inspiring a new generation of leaders to put humanity, peace and understanding above all else. I hope members of the Rice and Houston communities will join us for an evening of freedom, learning and discovery.”
Freedom, who was born in Switzerland to Turkish parents, began his activism by calling out human rights violations by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in his home country Turkey. Authorities retaliated by banishing him from the country, listing him in Interpol and imprisoning his father. The Turkish government put a $500,000 bounty on him, and in 2017, he narrowly escaped kidnapping attempts (arranged by Turkish government agents) in Indonesia and Romania. He received 11 arrest warrants and countless death threats.
Seven years after having his Turkish citizenship revoked, Enes became an American citizen and changed his last name to Freedom. In the NBA he became known for his “freedom shoes,” speaking out for the rights of Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hongkongers, Taiwanese and others facing oppression from the Chinese Communist Party. In February 2022, his NBA career ended when he was waived by the Houston Rockets after being traded from the Boston Celtics. Freedom has said in media interviews that the NBA is reluctant to sign him for speaking out against Chinese human rights violations, a claim NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has denied.
More information on Freedom is online at https://www.enesfreedom.com.
