Lincoln considers revoking Fujimori doctorate

A Lincoln University honorary doctorate awarded to Alberto Fujimori may be revoked after the former Peruvian president was jailed for human rights abuses.

Lincoln vice-chancellor Roger Field said Fujimori, 71, received the doctorate while visiting New Zealand in 1998.

"My understanding is that it was thought, not necessarily by the university, to be a good idea to recognise him as he was an agricultural scientist," Mr Field told The Press.

Lincoln was developing academic research exchange relationships with South American universities at the time, and Fujimori had "a significant background in agriculture".

Mr Field said the university was now considering revoking the doctorate after the issue was raised toward the end of last year.

It would be the first time the university had revoked an honorary doctorate.

Fujimori's government collapsed in 2000 and he fled to Japan.

Last April, a Peruvian court jailed him for 25 years for his role in killings and kidnappings by a military death squad.

He was later sentenced to a further seven and a half years in prison for embezzlement, after admitting to paying his spy chief US$15 million ($21m) from state funds.

- NZPA