Dubai/Abu Dhabi: A Zayed University professor, who provoked students by showing them the offensive cartoons of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), and a supervisor, who condoned her move, which she claimed was within the rights of "freedom of opinion and expression", have both been dismissed.
An official source at the university said Claudia Kiburz, a professor of English, distributed copies of the cartoons claiming that publishing the caricatures is within the rights of "freedom of opinion and expression".
The source said students refused to remain in class and were threatened by the professor they would be counted as absent if they leave. Students went to complain to the supervisor of the English Learning Centre. According to the source, the supervisor told the students that Kiburz was right.
A university investigation was carried out on Tuesday night and the dismissal orders were issued at 10pm from the office of Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Ministry of Education.
Gulf News tried contacting Kiburz to be told she "will not talk to the press in this country". The supervisor refused to comment to Gulf News saying that he "will not talk about this issue at this stage".
Dr Hanif Hassan, Vice-President of Zayed University, told Gulf News: "We are with the freedom of expression but at the same time we have to maintain the standards and values of our community."