36 Student Organizations Criticize Velayati for Political Restrictions

Thirty-six student organizations from Azad University criticized Ali Akbar Velayati, the head of the founding board of Azad Islamic University, in a letter regarding the political restrictions imposed during the December 7th ceremonies. According to Khabar, these organizations pointed out that Velayati has deemed 'political diversity' at Azad University as 'permissible,' yet the university officials are pursuing the 'exclusion of opposing groups from the university body' through 'strange and unjustifiable behaviors.' Reports indicated that Azad University imposed restrictions on inviting speakers for Student Day, and in some branches of the university, the installation of images of Mohammad Khatami, the reformist president, was also prevented. These organizations expressed dissatisfaction with the university's efforts to hold uniform and identical ceremonies on December 7th and raised concerns about the 'militarization' of the atmosphere at Azad University, referring to the nature of appointments of university officials. On December 5th, Mohammad Ghorbani Golshan Abadi, the director of Islamic political organizations at Azad University, stated regarding the speakers for Student Day: 'Certainly, individuals who were active in the 2009 unrest are among the red lines of this university.' Meanwhile, the speeches of several reformists at universities across the country on December 7th were prevented. Reports indicated that the speech of Gholamhossein Karbaschi, the secretary-general of the Executives of Construction Party, was canceled by the orders of the IRGC intelligence in Qom. The IRGC intelligence also canceled Karbaschi's speech in Zanjan. Additionally, the supervisory council of Allameh Tabatabai University opposed the speeches of Abdollah Momeni and Sajedeh Arab Sarakhi at this university. Urmia Industrial University also did not grant permission for a speech by Mohammad Kianoush Rad, a member of the central council of the National Unity Party of Iran. This comes as Esmail Jabbarzadeh, the political deputy of the Ministry of Interior, stated that no programs were canceled due to the interference of institutions. The political deputy of the Ministry of Interior said: 'We had prohibited the entry of external institutions in this regard, and no program has been canceled. We have reports that programs may have been canceled due to lack of coordination or flight delays, but the non-holding was not due to the interference of outside institutions.' This ministry official also stated that Azad University denied any influence regarding reformist speakers.