Prosecutors in Mexico seeking arrest warrants for more than 30 scientists

Scientific community is outraged, saying charges of organised crime are an attempt by Mexico's president to silence them

Mexico's scientific community has reacted with outrage after the country's chief prosecutor requested arrest warrants for 31 scientists, researchers and academics on accusations of organised crime, money laundering and embezzlement - charges that could land them alongside drug cartel kingpins in one of the country's most notorious lockups.

A judge at the maximum security Altiplano prison - from which Joaquin El Chapo" Guzman escaped in 2015 - denied granting the arrest warrants on Wednesday. But the federal prosecutor immediately announced plans to pursue arrest warrants for the third time.