Iranian university students protest intensified suppression - report

Students at several Iranian universities have protested against intensified suppression of students by the Islamic Republic regime and university administrators in recent weeks.

On Tuesday morning, students at the Tarbiat Modares University in Tehran said they had held a strike recently in protest against "the pressure of security and suffocation prevailing in the university," with students refusing to go to classes, the central library, and some laboratories for two days, according to a Telegram channel reportedly affiliated with student unions across Iran.

"They have occupied our university and established a military regime there. If we speak and protest, the answer is violence, insults, and the disciplinary committee. There is not a day when we are safe from the harassment of the university security and [security forces in] civilian clothes," wrote the students.

"Every day they insult us, physically attack us, threaten us, and violate our privacy. But the students did not remain silent, they answered every remark and insult with logic and reason and showed their protest individually or with group letters...The response of the university management and security was increasing pressure, suffocation, and harassment," they wrote.

"Their goal is that the students be scared and depressed and isolated, and that no voice be heard from anywhere. They want to silence us by force."

According to the students, security at the university had imposed "pressures and policies" on campus and against girls' dormitories at the university during the past month. They said as well that the actions of the university and security forces have driven some students to suicidal ideation.

The student union stressed that the two-day strike was only the first step of their protests and that they would continue the protest in different ways until "the university management and security change their procedures and make the university environment suitable for students' lives."

Among the demands of the students are forcing security forces to remain in guard posts and not enter the student space of the university, an end to the harassment of students concerning hijab rules, an end to intimidation by security forces against students (including the publication of students' personal information online), and an end to regulations that were instituted at the gates of the university, including gender segregation.

"This is only a part of the wide union problems that we students face every day and we addressed this strike to them. It is obvious that we will not stop pursuing all our student demands, and our protests will continue."

Student unions at a number of Iranian universities have also reported in recent weeks that several students have been detained, forcibly transferred to other universities, or banned from studying altogether on allegations of being linked to various protest activities.

Students protest imprisonment of Iranian activists

Additionally, dozens of students and alumni from the Allameh Tabataba'i University in Tehran signed a letter protesting a decision by an Iranian court to sentence activists Zia Nabavi and Hasti Amiri to a year in prison for taking part in a protest against a series of poisonings reported in girls' schools across Iran earlier this year.

The students warned in the letter that the security of the university violently attacked the protest in a way that "worries and disturbs anyone who spent time in Allameh University or now lives in that environment, and warns of a trend that is irreversible." The students added that the university appears intent on creating "a wide-ranging case" against the participants in the protest.

"Now we are facing a chain of all kinds of oppression in the university, more than ever before. The university has not only moved away from an ideal such as 'university independence,' but every day its dependence on non-academics is increasing," wrote the students.

"We continue to declare that in a situation where efforts are being made from all sides to destroy any prospects for progressive change, [and] while condemning the suspension and prison sentences for students, we continue to demand justice and freedom. We are persistent for the realization of a university that belongs to the students."

The latest protests come just a few weeks before Iranians observe "Student Day," a commemoration of the murder of three university students by the Shah's police force. Last year, Student Day was marked with heavy protests as part of months of demonstrations following the killing of Mahsa Amini by Tehran's "morality police."

Student Day, which is commemorated by both supporters and opponents of the Islamic Republic, commemorates the 1953 murder of three university students by police during the Pahlavi regime. The three were killed after the Shah's police forces opened fire on University of Tehran students who were protesting the restoration of diplomatic ties with the United Kingdom.

In August, a number of Iranian professors, who expressed support for protesting students during the demonstrations that swept Iran after the killing of Amini last year, were fired or suspended in the weeks leading up to the anniversary of Amini's death, according to reports by student unions and opposition-affiliated media.