“Mustafa Moin”: Attack on University Campus Was a “Mongol-like” Assault

“Mustafa Moin,” Minister of Science, said on the anniversary of the attack on the University Campus that this assault was a “Mongol-like” attack.

Mustafa Moin, Minister of Science under “Mohammad Khatami’s” administration, on the occasion of the anniversary of the attack on Tehran University Campus in Tir month of 1378 (June-July 1999), stated that this attack was a “Mongol-like” assault. He also confirmed that students were attacked at night, including foreign students residing in the university campus, their limbs were broken, and they were thrown from rooftops to the ground. He emphasized the great sacrifice of students.

The attack on Tehran University Campus took place following the closure of the newspaper “Salam,” between students and security and Basij forces dressed in plain clothes, during the 18th to 23rd days of Tir month in 1378 (June-July 1999). On the 15th of Tir in 1378, the newspaper “Salam” published a confidential letter from “Saeed Emami,” a senior official of the Ministry of Intelligence and accused in serial murders, which he had written to “Ghorbane Ali Dari Najafabadi,” the then Minister of Intelligence. In the aforementioned letter, Emami had requested the imposition of restrictions on the press, and as a result of the publication of this letter, the Special Court of Clergy ordered the closure of the newspaper.

A group of human rights activists in Iran announced the death toll of the attack on the University Campus on 18 Tir as seven people, of whom only two were identified. The prosecution by families of the victims, their questions regarding this incident, and the fate of students such as “Saeed Zeinali” whose whereabouts remain unknown, have kept the file of this student crackdown in the 1370s decade still open.

Mustafa Moin further stated in an interview with “KhabareOnline”: “What was the fault of the university and students? It was that they were present at the scene and created that epic on the second of Khordad (the day marking the 1979 Revolution) and were pioneers for transformation to occur. This incident could have not happened, as there was no reason for it. It was as if the students’ behavior was a great sin, because it caused many equations to fall apart. For this reason, from the beginning, the Reformist government faced confrontations and crises, and then it reached the University Campus which should have been eye for an eye.”

“Reza Haji-Hosseini,” a journalist, while referring to Mustafa Moin’s statements regarding the University Campus events, told Iran International: “With this incident, a new chapter of protests began in Iran and also a new chapter of suppression of protests in Iran. The naked form of suppression in the streets during these protests has remained in memories.”

Prince Reza Pahlavi also, on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the attack on the University Campus, said: “Students and people have marked a historical turning point in the struggle for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. The organizers and perpetrators of this crime should know that its file is still open and one day it will be addressed in a national court.”

Mustafa Moin continued in his interview: “This behavior was wrong. It can be said that the attack was a ‘Mongol-like’ assault that occurred and caused damage. The student movement became stagnant and the university fell into passivity. The psychological and social damages are long-term; it is not as if they will end in the short term. Student protests subside after a period of time, and there was no reason for a student protest to turn into a national crisis. This crisis was imposed on higher education and the student movement.”

He also made demands to “Masoud Pezeshkian,” winner of the 1403 presidential election, to the effect of: serious pursuit of “lifting house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi,” “liberation of political prisoners and removal of bureaucratic and illegal obstacles to the activities of civil society organizations based on the principles of the Constitution,” and “pursuit of the abolition of the morality police and the end of violence and insult to Iranian women, girls, and youth.”