IRAN: Student writes of hope, fear over protest

20 December 2009

On 7 December tens of thousands of students marched at universities across Iran, in the most significant anti-government protests in the country for months. The Associated Press asked a 20-year-old philosophy undergraduate at Tehran's Allameh Tabatabei University to record his thoughts and experiences in a diary before, during and after the protests. He provided the diary on condition of anonymity, because some of his friends have been arrested or suspended for contacting the foreign media.

The student has been suspended this semester for taking part in protests. More than 100 other students, including friends of the diarist, have been arrested in recent weeks, some sentenced to long prison terms.

They charge that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the last election by fraud, and many are supporters of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. The Iranian government considers the students misguided and says they have been tempted into counter-revolutionary activities by Iran's foreign enemies.
Full report on the Associated Press site

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