NCRI Staff
NCRI – Students from the University of Amir Kabir (formerly Tehran Polytechnic) staged a rally and issued a statement in a protest against the arrest and detention of their classmates. They demanded to resolve the current security atmosphere of universities and abolish the prosecution of students detained in the early January protests.
The Amir Kabir students also called for the abolition of heavy sentences against students and the release of students arrested in the protests.
The students’ rally was held on Sunday, March 11, and was attacked by the repressive Basij forces.
The student’s statement reads in part: “While there are many claims that independence and academic freedom exist in the university, and the government pledges to create non-security atmosphere at the university, we now see that every criticism by the university students and staff faces most intense interference and encounter by the security institutions, and students… are dealt with severely and are under the sharp rim of the most intense encounters…”.
In the statement of the protest rally, “All students and professors” were called upon to accompany the protesters “in order to defend the right to criticize and academic independence and prevent aggression of foreign entities against the universities”.
The statement states that everyday “the cost of criticism and protests becomes more and more” and “the ears of officials become heavier (more deaf)”.
The regime’s judiciary in Tehran has issued heavy prison sentences for three students arrested after the nationwide protests last January. Two of these students have received a ban on leaving the country in addition to imprisonment.
According to reports, Leila Hassanzadeh, an anthropology student at the University of Tehran, has been sentenced to 6 years imprisonment and two years ban on leaving the country.
According to the same reports, Sina Rabiee, a student of Social Sciences at the University of Tehran, has been sentenced to one year imprisonment and two-year ban on leaving the country, and Mohsen Haqshenas, a stage design student at the same university, has been sentenced to two years imprisonment.
These three student activists are charged with “propaganda against the system”, “acting against national security” and “disrupting public order by taking part in illegal gatherings”.
At the same time, the protest students have called for any judicial follow-up against other students detained in the last few months to be resolved.