Agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) called off the program a few minutes before its opening. The SSF Special Units had sealed off the building where the celebration was scheduled since early morning. Some of the students managed to escape the meeting hall using the backdoor which led to nearby Neshat Street and joined their fellow students already gathered on main campus.
For the past two weeks, student activists are holding a sit-in on the university’s main campus demanding the resignation of the school’s president Mohammad-Hadi Sadeqi a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for the suppressive measures he has adopted against the students. Sadeqi was appointed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad without consulting the school’s faculty.
In the same period, virtually all colleges of Shiraz University have gone on strike such as Science and Technology as well as Pharmacy among others. The striking students occupied the administration building twice in the past week forcing the school’s chancellor to flee through the backdoor fearing for his life.
Since February26, students have held protests on campus often chanting slogans: "No matter what happens, our movement will go on" and "We are fighters men and women, fight us and we will fight."
The Iranian Resistance calls on all international human rights organizations especially student unions to condemn the mullahs’ regime for adopting suppressive measure against the Shiraz University students and calls for urgent action to free all detainees.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
March 9, 2008