Academics call for suspension of student protest cases

Some 120 academics from universities across Iran, including former legislators and cabinet members, last week called on President Hassan Rouhani to order the immediate suspension of judicial cases against more than 150 students who are still in detention for participating in protests that occurred in December 2017 and January this year.

In an open letter on 16 July circulated by a number of rights groups, the academics called on Rouhani to defend students’ space to criticise.

“It appears that most of the detained students have participated in previous legal activities and may have criticised the performance of your government regarding universities. This matter has raised suspicions that some are trying to silence dissent in universities, which would undoubtedly be harmful to the future of the country,” the letter said.

“Therefore, as the country’s university academics, we once again declare that we want the universities to be ‘safe but not securitised’ and urge you to take steps in support of students and carry out your duties and pledges to safeguard people’s rights and defend students’ space to criticise.”

The signatories, who include Tehran’s representative to the Majlis or parliament, Mahmoud Sadeghi, and former pro-reform MPs Hashem Aghajari and Elaheh Koulaei, as well as a number of renowned professors, said to President Rouhani: “Given that your government’s Intelligence Ministry is responsible for arresting many of the students, and in accordance with your duties as the chairman of the Supreme National Security Council, we urge you to immediately issue an order to completely suspend the judicial cases against the students.”

Although it is not known exactly how many students are in detention, despite calls by parliamentarians for the exact number to be revealed by security and intelligence agencies, reformist Parvaneh Salahshouri, who leads the pro-Rouhani women’s faction in Iran’s parliament, said in an interview with the semi-official Iranian Labour News Agency recently that the list put together of students detained in the December-January incidents showed they number more than 150 – much higher than previously thought, while 17 had so far been sentenced to prison terms.

“The Intelligence Ministry is involved in some of the cases against these students and therefore the government and the ministry itself should explain what’s going on here,” Salahshouri said.

Rouhani has so far remained silent on the continued detention of the student protesters and the harsh sentences issued to several of them in recent weeks, according to the United States-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

Student organisations

The move follows a statement issued at the beginning of July by some 63 student organisations from universities across Iran criticising the sentences meted out to students who took part in the protests. The most recent sentences were handed down on 10 July, according to CHRI.

“Dr Rouhani’s ‘moderate’ government has not only failed to defend the students but evidently his Intelligence Ministry is involved in their arrest and prosecution,” the student organisations said in their joint statement.

Calling for the unconditional release of detained students and revocation of judicial orders against them, the students also criticised the science and higher education ministry for its “severe inaction” and silence in response to the arrests and harsh sentencing of students. They called for greater action by the ministry in safeguarding universities.

According to a report by the state-funded Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) on 28 June, students of the faculty of social science at the University of Tehran – one of the main venues of protests in Tehran in December – boycotted their final exams in protest at the harsh sentences handed down to some of the university’s students.

Some 20 academics including the faculty’s acting dean, Mehdi Etemadi, came out in support of the students, in what students described as a “spontaneous protest”.

The protests came after two Tehran University students, Sina Darvish Omran and Ali Mozaffari, were last month each handed down eight-year prison sentences by a Tehran court for “assembly and collusion against national security”, which students say are vague and ill-defined charges.

In early March three Tehran University students were handed down sentences for allegedly attending the protests. They included a six-year sentence for anthropology student Leila Hosseinnejad, two years for theatre set design student Mohsen Haghshenas and a one-year sentence for sociology student Sina Rabiei. The students were also subject to travel bans of up to two years.

Etemadi, the faculty dean, reportedly said during the 28 June protest on campus that faculty would coordinate with professors around the country. “They are keen to liaise with the judiciary to help students,” he said.

Tehran University’s faculties of social sciences and of economics said they would enter into negotiations with the judiciary to suggest that many of the cases should be dealt with within the university’s disciplinary committees, which consist of representatives of students, professors and university officials.

“We will ask [the judiciary] for the return of student files to the disciplinary committees of the universities,” the faculty statement said.

Almost a dozen students aged 18-22 from the faculty were arrested in the aftermath of the December-January protests.

Tight security

Tehran University students reported that security continues to be tight around the campus.

According to the dissident organisation National Council of Resistance of Iran, based in France, and a report by Iran Human Rights Monitor issued on 13 July, surveillance cameras have been installed in many universities in recent weeks, and all student communication and internet use are tracked, it claimed, adding “large mysterious antennas have also been seen in many universities”.

All vehicular traffic on campuses is severely restricted and gatherings in and around student accommodation have also been banned with even ‘cultural or religious ceremonies’ prohibited except with the permission of the university security organisations, who must be present at any such ceremony.