UK: Iranian tensions shake Durham's ivory towers

14 February 2010

It's a long way from Iran to north-east England, but anger about the crushing of opposition protests by the Islamic regime has generated a furious row at Durham University, where one academic has condemned the British government for turning "the slaughter of innocent teenagers in Iraq and Afghanistan into an art form", writes Ian Black for The Guardian.

Dr Colin Turner, co-director of Durham's Centre for Iranian Studies, lashed out after supporters of Iran's green movement campaigned against a seminar on culture and politics that was funded by the Iranian state, but boycotted by the main speakers and all Iranians at the university.

The seminar was held on 28 January, the day the authorities in Tehran announced the execution of two young men it described as terrorists, in the presence of Durham's mayor and the university vice-chancellor. Iranian students in the UK are also enraged by the fact that a Durham postgraduate colleague is missing, presumed in detention in Iran after having had his passport confiscated. Feelings are running high in advance of this week's 31st anniversary of the 1979 revolution.
Full report on The Guardian site

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