Students Hold Protest Rally Simultaneously with Rouhani’s Speech at University of Tehran

Coinciding with Hassan Rouhani’s speech at the University of Tehran, a group of students at the university held a protest rally in the campus on Wednesday, the 24th of Mehr, demanding the release of imprisoned students.

The University of Tehran students’ protests are occurring in circumstances where student sources have described the university atmosphere as highly “securitized.”

The Telegram channel of the country’s student councils wrote that this rally was held in “severe security conditions,” citing bag and belongings searches of students upon entering the university, and the large presence of security forces and plainclothes agents in the campus as examples of this securitized atmosphere.

The Iranian president’s speech at the University of Tehran continues while Soha Mortazaei, a student who has been banned from education and former secretary of the Central Student Council of the University of Tehran, has been on the fifth consecutive day of sit-in in front of the university’s central library.

Soha Mortazaei, a student who was arrested during the December 2017 protests, has been sentenced to six years of imprisonment and two years of deprivation of membership in political parties and groups.

The Iranian student councils’ Telegram channel reported that “the Allameh Amini Hall of the University of Tehran’s central library, where Hassan Rouhani gave his speech, was empty of students and the speeches’ texts were scripted.”

One of Hassan Rouhani’s election promises in the presidential election was to allow prominent students to resume their studies.

Protesting students described Rouhani’s presence at the University of Tehran as “theatrical,” and have voiced opposition to the sentences issued for arrested students.

In recent months, the Islamic Republic has increased security clashes with students and issued prison sentences for them.

Protesting students at this rally chanted “University security is a branch of intelligence,” expressing opposition to the securitized atmosphere in universities. They also chanted slogans including “University is money-oriented, workers are imprisoned,” “Classrooms are empty, students are imprisoned,” and “Worker, student, unite,” and protested against the imprisonment of students.

Previously, University of Tehran students also held a protest rally in June of this year in opposition to sentences issued for students.

Moreover, a group of professors and lecturers from the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Tehran, on the 30th of Ordibehesht of this year, sent a letter to Mansour Ghammari, the Minister of Science, Research and Technology, demanding the release of Marzieh Amiri, a journalist and student of social sciences at the University of Tehran.

During the nationwide protests in Iran, which began on Thursday, the 7th of Dey 96 and extended to more than 80 Iranian cities, approximately 100 students were arrested across Iran. Soha Mortazaei, Marzieh Amiri, Leila Hosseinzadeh, Parisa Rafaei, and Mohsen Haghshenas are among the students of this university who were arrested during the nationwide protests of 96.

Heavy prison sentences against students who were arrested following the December protests of the previous year have drawn criticism from human rights activists.

Human Rights Watch also condemned the heavy judicial sentences against students.

A spokesman for the U.S. State Department also wrote on Twitter: “We condemn Iran’s action in issuing prison sentences for students who held peaceful demonstrations.”

Source: Voice of America