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Crackdown on student movements before the student day (16 Azar)
By IHRV | November 22, 2009
While protests against the continued holding of a large number of detainees from post-election events are still in progress, in the past weeks, the Ministry of Intelligence has increased pressure on student activists by arresting even more students.
The arrests began on the afternoon of November 3, and have been continuing to this date. In the process, Daftar Tahkim Vahdat (The Office of Strengthening Unity), the Iranian Student Organization, and a number of liberal student activists have been among the groups bearing the brunt of raids by Intelligence organizations.
16 Azar (December 7) [Student Day]
A protest movement by Iranian people began showing itself after the recent presidential election under the name of the Green Movement. Through protests lasting for weeks and the killings of protestors in the streets of Tehran and other big cities, the message that has been conveyed to the Islamic Republic rulers is that from now on, at all major events, the movement will appear in the streets and it is determined to continue its protest.
Previously, security forces and judicial officials, prior to the start of such events as Qods Day or November 4, would issue variety of stern statements calling every protest gathering illegal and warn that protestors would be prosecuted and confronted harshly. In spite of such warnings, during this year’s marches on Qods Day and November 4, large crowds of people ignored the warnings and appeared in the streets and even shouted slogans against some of the most senior officials.
In spite of widespread detentions and an unprecedented use of force against the gathering that was held on November 4, participants went further, and even used the gathering to plan for the next protest, to be held on December 7.
Writing on the walls and inviting people to participate in a December 7 march has forced some the security officials to go on the defensive, to the point that Mohsen Ezhehei, the country’s general prosecutor, during his last remarks against the opposition, warned them: “Every type of new unrest will be confronted resolutely and will be stopped.”
In spite of all these warnings, students and ordinary people are preparing to hold the ceremonies for Student Day in Tehran on December 7. Nevertheless, the detention of student activists started on November 3 and is still continuing.
House-to-House Arrests of Students
A wave of detentions of activists connected with student-related issues began on the afternoon of November 3 when a number of executive members of Daftar Tahkim Vahdat were detained in their residences. A number of others are still being pursued by the Ministry of Intelligence.
Among the members of this organization who were detained on November 3 and November 4 are Mohammad Sadeghi, Hasan Asadi-Zaidabadi, Hojat Sharifi and Nafiseh Zare-Kohan.
On November 4, during a raid inside the Shiraz University compound by plainclothes agents and special guards, students including Kazem Rezaei, Sajad Behnam, Ehsan Hashemi and twenty other students from the university were detained.
The detentions continued through the following days.
On November 3, students from Khajeh Nasir University, identified as Ali Parviz and Sohail Mohammadi, were detained by Intelligence forces inside their residences and were transferred to Evin Prison.
On November 3, security guards went to the residence of Salman Sima, a student from Azad University, with the intent to detain him, but he was not found there; they went again on November 14, while he was leaving his residence, and he was placed under arrest and transferred to section 209 of Evin Prison.
In the past two days, security forces have sped up their efforts in locating and confining activist students.
Abas Hakimzadeh, an executive member of Daftar Tahkim Vahdat who was held in prison through half of the ninth administration, was detained last Thursday. In March of 2008, Mr. Hakimzadeh, along with a number of other students from Amir Kabir University, was detained and he ended up spending 134 days in prison. Mr. Hakimzadeh spent 123 days of his imprisonment inside a solitary cell.
Also, Neda Eskandari, a political science student, and Khadijeh Ghahremani, agricultural major, both from Shiraz University, were recently summoned before the university’s disciplinary committee for a review of their cases and were detained by agents from the Ministry of Intelligence.
Ms. Eskandari and Ms. Ghahremani were suspended for two terms and barred from using school facilities by the university’s disciplinary committee, respectively.
Yesterday, security forces, in a coordinated raid, detained seven members of an organization known as Liberal Students of Iranian Universities.
Yesterday afternoon, security guards also raided the residence of Ehsan Dolatshah, a member of the same organization, and in addition to arresting Mr. Dolatshah, others identified as Mehrdad Bozorgh, Sorna Hashemi, Alireza Mousavi, Farzan Raaufi, Sina Shokohi and Alborz Zahedi were also detained. Later, Mr. Bozorgh and Ms. Hashemi were escorted to their residences by security guards, where their belongings were searched.
Statement by Daftar Tahkim Vahdat
Daftar Tahkim Vahdat issued a statement condemning the repeated detention of Abas Hakimzadeh.
The organization’s public relations desk called the detention of Mr. Hakimzadeh, an executive member of the organization, and the arrests of students from other universities in recent weeks, a sign of incompetence and confusion by authorities to maintain order in society. Part of the statement read:
“In the runup to 16 Azar (December 7), we are witnessing the widespread arrests of students from universities including Khajeh Nasir, Azad Tehran, Sharif, Amir Kabir, Azad, Tafresh and Science and Technology. Incompetence and a state of confusion among authorities as they attempt to maintain order has forced the authorities to resort to suppression and elimination tactics. A four-year unbreakable and binding method used on critics has added to further animosities among the masses, and the same tactics will not work today either.”
Considering detained students’ experiences during violent interrogations sessions, the organization expressed its concerns.
Issuing Harsh Punishments against Student Activists
During the mass detentions of students in the past weeks, a number of leftist activist students also received harsh punishments from Revolutionary Courts. Students spent some time in Section 209 inside Evin Prison, and they received jail terms ranging anywhere from two to five years.
Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court sentenced Kayvan Amiri-Elyasi to five years and Ali Kantouri to 32 months in jail, and Saeed Habibi, ex-chairman of Daftar Tahkim Vahdat, is on trial now.
Also, Mehdi Geraylo was sentenced to a five-year jail term by branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, headed by Judge Moghayeseh. The same court sentenced Mehdi Bokharaei, another member of a leftist student organization known as Pro-Democracy and Pro-Equality, to a 32-month jail term.
Mehdi Allahyari, student activist and another member of the same organization, was sentenced to a two-year jail term.
Soroush Sabet, who had achieved the first ranking during the qualification examinations for a master’s degree, also received a two-year jail sentencing.
In the meantime, a number of students who were detained during post-election events are still being held inside the prisons.
For the past five months, students identified as Payman Aref, Zia-Uldin Nabavi, Atefeh Nabavi and Majid Dari, who are affiliated with the Right to Education Defense Council, have been held inside Evin Prison under uncertain conditions.
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