Professors back embattled science minister

Nearly 900 professors in Iranian universities have issued a statement in support of embattled Science Minister Reza Faraji Dana who is facing an impeachment vote by Iran’s parliament known as the Majlis.

In a letter to parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani, the professors expressed dismay that a number of conservative-leaning members of parliament were attempting to remove the minister who is also responsible for higher education.

“We are in awe that MPs who in the past have remained silent regarding all forms of abnormal and irrational decision-making and the desecration of the very institution of the university, have now begun deterring action against the rational policies of the minister of science,” the letter stated.

A group of 50 conservative-leaning parliamentarians had proposed the minister’s impeachment to a presiding board of parliament – but a vote on the matter originally scheduled for last week has been postponed until next month.

In a meeting on Monday between Ali Larijani, MPs and Faraji Dana, a stay in the vote was agreed to give Faraji Dana time to respond to some of the concerns of those calling for his impeachment, a spokesman for parliament’s education committee was quoted by Iran’s national news agency as saying.

Appointments

The main reason given by the 50 MPs for wanting to remove Faraji Dana was his recent appointments of university presidents, which they claimed was destabilising universities.

Qasem Jafari, a member of parliament’s education committee and one of the parliamentarians backing the impeachment motion, said Faraji Dana’s policies were not conducive to preserving the peace in universities, Iran Student News Agency reported.

“Faraji Dana pledged to act within the framework of the law,” Jafari was quoted as saying after the meeting to postpone the impeachment vote.

Conservative parliamentarians have accused Faraji Dana of hiring university presidents who appear to be sympathetic to the 2009 Green Movement, which led anti-government protests following the elections that year.

Last month Iran’s Mehr news agency reported that violence had broken out when students attempted to storm an auditorium at Amirkabir University of Technology, where the newly appointed university President Ahmad Motamedi was giving a speech in the presence of the deputy minister of education.

Motamedi is seen as being linked to Iran’s reformist factions. He was a member of Mir-Hossein Mousavi’s campaign team in 2009. Mousavi, a leader of the Green Movement, has been under house arrest since 2011.

According to Mehr, this link was seen as being behind the violent interruption of the speech. But others maintain the student disruption was instigated by conservative groups on campus.

MPs' fears

Analysts close to the MPs said they feared that in general Faraji Dana’s actions could revive the student movement, which had been effectively suppressed by the previous regime led by president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In particular they point to the reduced presence of security forces and intelligence officials on campuses.

They have also objected to the appointment of other pro-Green individuals in the science ministry and have been insisting that the Ministry of Intelligence should clear such appointments, something that Faraji Dana believes is not necessary.

However, impeachment attacks are seen as politically motivated, aimed at removing reform-minded ministers appointed by Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani. Others under impeachment scrutiny include the ministers of agriculture and of energy.

Another MP, Mahmoud Negahban Salami, criticised the conservative faction saying they were hoping to prevail in the “hire and fire” of ministers by threatening impeachment motions.

“None of the previous ministers was summoned by the Majlis for impeachment despite countless and undeniable mistakes,” the English-language Iran Daily said in a critical editorial last week.

Haoajiatollah Darvishpour, another MP, recently told local media that there was insufficient reason to impeach the minister.

While conservatives referred to university appointments, Darvishpour maintained the real reason was the ministry’s review under Faraji Dana of “apparent irregularities in the granting of student bursaries” by the last administration during the Ahmedinejad era.

Darvishpour claimed that the conservatives were attempting to “cover up past practices”.

* Yojana Sharma contributed to this article.