Students gather at Amirkabir University to protest repression and "martial law"

A group of students at Amirkabir University chanted slogans against the suppression of protesters, deception, and the militarization of society. The demonstrators also called for the release of a number of imprisoned students, including Bahareh Hedayat.

"Don't call me a seditionist, sedition is you, an oppressor," "No threats, no repression, this is what the people say," "November and June, remember the mullahs and the atrocities," "You are our killer army," and...

These were some of the slogans that a number of Amirkabir University students chanted during their rally on Sunday, February 17, on the university campus.

Some of the slogans were repetitions of slogans from recent protest events, and some were reminiscent of the violent confrontations by security and military forces and the bloody repression of protesters during these events.

“1,500 people are the dead of our November” was one of the slogans referring to the victims of the widespread protest movements in November of this year. Government officials have so far refused to announce the number of victims of these protests, but some sources estimate the number to be up to 1,500.

At Sunday's protest rally, slogans were also heard that were specifically related to the downing of the Ukrainian airliner near Tehran airport and the cover-up and falsehoods by the agents of the Islamic Republic's regime about it.

The Ukrainian plane was targeted and shot down on the morning of January 8, killing all 176 people on board. After three days of concealment and misrepresentation, Islamic Republic officials finally confirmed on January 11 that two IRGC air defense missiles had hit the Ukrainian plane, calling it the result of “human error.”

According to videos published on social media, one of the slogans of protesting students at Amir Kabir University regarding this incident was: "You are a human error, you are a hidden shot."

"You made a mistake, you made a mistake"

"You made a mistake, you made a mistake" was another slogan, reminiscent of a speech by the Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ali Khamenei, in July 1991, on the third anniversary of a similar incident in which an Iranian passenger plane over the Persian Gulf was "mistakenly" targeted by a missile attack from a US warship.

In that speech, a portion of which was re-released on social media after the downing of the Ukrainian plane, Khamenei addressed the Americans who had admitted their mistake in downing the Iranian plane: "You made a mistake, you made a mistake. What does it mean that we made a mistake?"

"No, to military rule, boycott of elections"

A number of slogans chanted by the protesters on the campus of Amir Kabir University expressed their protest against the suppression of protesters and opponents by the IRGC and Basij forces and their concern about the military gaining more power: “No scholars, no corporations, peace be upon the university,” “We don’t want a military government, we don’t want one.”

Among the slogans of the protesters at Amir Kabir University on Sunday, several were related to the latest political developments in Iran, the elections for the 11th term of the Islamic Consultative Assembly on March 2, and support for those boycotting them: "People are struggling with poverty, they are thinking about votes," and "No ballot box, no votes, boycott the elections."

Suppression of student activists and arrest of Bahareh Hedayat

Calls for the release of Bahareh Hedayat, a student and political activist who was imprisoned, were also heard at the Amir Kabir student rally. Ms. Hedayat, who has been arrested many times, was released in September 2016 after seven years in prison and has recently been imprisoned again.

The Islamic Iran Alumni Organization (Era of Strengthening Unity), of which Bahareh Hedayat is a prominent and long-standing member, issued a statement strongly condemning her arrest, describing the move as part of a "dangerous trend" of preventing activists and civil society organizations from "participating in political life."

The statement emphasized: "Until the barriers to the legal and civil activities of political parties, groups, and activists in the country are dismantled, and disqualification, arrest, threats, confinement, and intimidation are used as tools to eliminate individuals and groups, and a return to a peaceful society is not achieved, no action, including elections, street and media demonstrations, will be able to restore stability, security, and peace to the country in any field."

The Alumni Organization has criticized the Hassan Rouhani government and the Ministry of Science, which, according to the organization, have paved the way for illegal attacks on student and political activists, contrary to promises to protect citizen rights, and has called for the unconditional release of Bahareh Hedayat.

Source: DW