The gathering of Tehran University students protesting against judicial verdicts issued against a number of detained students continued on its fourth day.
According to reports published on social media networks, students protested against 5 and 8-year prison sentences handed down to some students detained during last December’s protests, demanding that the Ministry of Science intervene in the matter.
Students stated that the Ministry of Science should not claim that the issue is beyond the government’s control, since the Ministry of Intelligence has been responsible for the students’ cases.
Tehran University students in recent days announced through protest gatherings that they will not participate in final exams until the judicial status of detained students is changed and the Ministry of Science intervenes to alter these verdicts.
On Wednesday, June 30, the Deputy Minister of Culture at the Ministry of Science told news agencies at the end of the fourth day of student protests that the Ministry of Science has submitted the names of students with judicial verdicts to the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office to address their situation during the appeals process.
Gholamreza Ghafari stated that verdicts for four male students and two female students among those detained in last December’s protests have been announced so far, with many, including students, believing these initial sentences are heavy and unjust.
He said that the Ministry of Science has established contact with the prosecutor’s office and the judiciary to change the verdicts in the appeals phase, noting that in the first stage, students must submit an appeal petition.
In this regard, it was also announced in mid-June that a female student from Fereydunkenar who was detained during the nationwide protests in December 2017 and is now imprisoned in Babol has been sentenced to 6 years in prison.
During last December’s nationwide protests and only in the first week of the protests, according to Parvane Salehshouri, Tehran’s representative in parliament, at least 90 students were detained.
Mahmoud Sadeghi, another Tehran representative, also reported that legal cases have been opened against around 50 students.
Leila Hosseinzadeh, secretary of Tehran University’s central student council, was also among those detained and was sentenced in March to 6 years of punitive imprisonment and 2 years of “travel ban.”
From Thursday, December 7, protests began in Iranian cities. Initially, these protests had an economic character, but gradually spread from Mashhad to Kermanshah and other Iranian cities. In widespread protests in large and small Iranian cities, protesters also chanted slogans against the system and the leader of the Islamic Republic.
The U.S. government issued statements in support of the Iranian people and their demands from the second day of these protests. Prominent figures in the U.S. Congress declared that the United States should stand with the Iranian people.
Source: Voice of America
