Entry of Plainclothes Agents into University of Tehran Dormitories
Students: Dormitories Are Unsafe, University of Tehran Dormitory More Unsafe
Students at the University of Tehran protested on Thursday, December 26, against the entry of plainclothes agents into student dormitories, while no information is yet available about the whereabouts and conditions of 8 arrested students at the university.
On Thursday, plainclothes security forces entered the Shahids of Students dormitory, which belongs to the University of Tehran, and demanded that mobile phones and personal belongings of arrested University of Tehran students be handed over. A University of Tehran student residing in the Shahids of Students dormitory told the Iran Human Rights Campaign in an interview that during a student gathering in protest of the IRGC missile strike on a Ukrainian passenger plane and the death of over 176 passengers, security forces in coordination with the University of Tehran’s security administration identified and arrested more than 8 students, and plainclothes agents were looking for personal belongings and mobile phones of these students, which was met with opposition and protests from students in the dormitory.”
This student, who witnessed the presence of plainclothes forces in the student dormitory, told the campaign: “The 8 arrested students are from different faculties of the University of Tehran, but unfortunately their families have not been allowed to publicize the names and arrest of their children. The university had also told us not to publicize it so they would be released, but we discovered that initially bail amounts of 50 to 100 million tomans were issued for these students, which were then multiplied several times, preventing their release. On the other hand, the university’s security itself assisted security agencies in identifying these students who participated in the gathering. The atmosphere at the university during this time has been completely tense, and with the plainclothes agents’ action of entering the dormitory, this tension has extended to the dormitories, and we practically have no sense of security.”
The Shahids of Students dormitory, affiliated with the University of Tehran, is located on Revolution Street above the Taleghani intersection, at the corner of Farhangi Street (formerly Behnam Street). On Thursday evening, students gathered in front of this dormitory to protest the entry of plainclothes agents. A student from this dormitory told the campaign: “After the gathering on Tuesday, one of the special forces personnel entered the dormitory in uniform, armor, and helmet and spoke with the dormitory guard. They said he wanted to perform ablution or pray. In any case, his entry into the dormitory was illegal and forbidden, and we don’t know why he came or what he said to the guard. However, on Thursday, around 10 to 11 in the morning, two plainclothes agents came inside the dormitory looking for the belongings of the arrested students. They thought we didn’t know about the arrest of these kids and introduced themselves as their relatives, claiming they came on behalf of the family and wanted the students’ mobile phones. They were met with objection and resistance from dormitory students. In the end, they took one of the arrested student’s roommates to the security guard’s office and prepared a report form for them to sign, saying they were from the police security. The students refused to sign and said they had entered the dormitory illegally. The other dormitory students gathered at the entrance of the guard’s office and drove the plainclothes agents out of the dormitory.”
According to students, the entry of plainclothes agents into the student dormitory was coordinated with university officials. An eyewitness student told the campaign: “The secretary of the University of Tehran’s class council was present in the dormitory and tried to inform the security and university administration that they had said they were aware of this, meaning they had entered with their coordination.”
A number of students from the Shahids of Students dormitory gathered in front of the dormitory on Thursday evening and demanded accountability from university officials. One student told the campaign: “Students decided to hold a sit-in in front of the dormitory that had been violated by security forces to protest this illegal action. We held a sit-in in front of the Shahids of Students dormitory, and suddenly a large number of special unit motorcycles arrived—more than 50 to 60 motorcycles—parading around us while our gathering was a silent sit-in and no slogans were chanted. We were demanding the presence of Soleimani, the university’s security officer, to account for their actions. Police cars were also stationed there, and when Mr. Soleimani arrived, he sided with the security forces in an insulting manner, as if he was protecting the interests of security forces at the university instead of protecting the security of University of Tehran students. He said the arrested students acted illegally inside the university and that we coordinate with police security. He said their crime was insulting the leadership, and at the same time one of his assistants was filming us, which he was forced to stop due to student protests and had to leave the dormitory. We protested the arrest of students and the presence of plainclothes agents at the university, but we did not receive proper answers. Now the atmosphere in the dormitory is tense and the students practically don’t feel safe. The University of Tehran dormitory is practically not a safe place, and all students are worried both about the arrested students and about their own security in the dormitory.”
Amir Sharifi, one of the students at the Shahids of Students dormitory, wrote on his personal Twitter: “Silent sit-in in front of the violated dormitory entrance of the University of Tehran. Tonight, in response to our sit-in, they confronted us with dozens of special unit motorcycles. From tonight on, all dormitories are unsafe. The University of Tehran dormitory is more unsafe. It’s unclear where we’ll wake up tomorrow morning.”
The names of arrested University of Tehran students have not yet been announced due to their families’ objection, and there is no information about their whereabouts and conditions. Meanwhile, student class councils across the country have announced the arrest of Zanyar Ahmadpour, an economics undergraduate student; Mitham Soleimani, a mechanical engineering graduate student; and Arshad Atabak, an Arabic literature graduate student, during a gathering of Kurdistan University students on Wednesday. Mohammad Esmaili, a graduate student of photography at the University of Tehran, remains in detention, and Mohammad Amin Hosseini, former secretary of the class council of Noshirvani University of Babol and a law student at Golestan University, and Majid Mehrpouri, a graduate student of laser engineering at Khwarezmi University, who were arrested during gatherings, were released yesterday.
Fateme Mohammadi is among those arrested during the gathering on Sunday at Freedom Square in Tehran, and there is no information about her whereabouts and condition.
Reports from Tehran indicate the continuation of a security and military atmosphere in the city, and eyewitnesses told the campaign that plainclothes forces, special guards, black vehicles belonging to special guards, and motorcyclists are stationed on the streets and squares of Tehran. Arrests continue, and Hussein Massoumi and Vida Rabbani, activists who had been threatened by security forces in recent days via telephone in connection with public gatherings protesting the downing of the Ukrainian plane by the IRGC, were arrested on Wednesday.
Zia Nabavi, a prominent student activist in Iran, wrote on his personal Twitter: “Yesterday afternoon, I saw on Revolution Street plainclothes agents dragging a young man toward Fakhr Razi Street. His friends who were standing at the intersection said he had only taken photos from the other side of the street and of the crowd of special units! In short, if our presence is this shameful, stop the siege of the university.”
Shahrnaz Akbari, the mother of Mostafa Karimbeigui, one of the victims of the 2009 presidential protests who was sentenced to one year in prison on charges of “propaganda against the system” for pursuing her son’s death, was imprisoned on Wednesday. Akbari’s sentence was confirmed by Branch 36 of the Tehran Provincial Court of Appeals without holding a retrial and hearing final arguments.
Shahrnaz Akbari wrote on her personal Twitter by posting a photo: “I will take my son’s photo to prison because I know it is my strength. I am a mother whose crime is seeking justice and repetition, and a simple question I have never received an answer to: Who killed my son?”
Source: Iran Human Rights Campaign
