Commemoration of July 9 and Victims of the University Dormitory Attack After 24 Years: Remember Us

On the twenty-fourth anniversary of the Koo University incident, social media users commemorated the victims of the July 9, 1999 student protests and criticized the judicial handling of the complaints from the victims of the suppression of those protests. Ansieh Daemi, a civil activist, recalled three prominent victims of the Koo University incident: "Ezzat Ebrahimnejad, Saeed Zinali, and Farishta Alizadeh," and republished previous statements by Akram Naqabi, the mother of Saeed Zinali, who has been missing for 24 years after being arrested by the Islamic Republic forces. Somayeh Baghi, a journalist, reminded of a video of Ezzat Ebrahimnejad reciting poetry, who was killed during the attack by the Islamic Republic forces on Koo University in Tehran, saying: "Remember us! We were young 22-year-olds, full of love, and before we could fall in love, we died with our chests on the ground." Yaghma Fakhshami, a journalist, shared a video recalling the 24 years since Saeed Zinali's disappearance, showing civil activists in front of his parents' house from two years ago. In this video, Akram Naqabi, Saeed Zinali's mother, who is still "waiting for news of her son," comes out of her house with a cane and cries in the arms of those present. Reza Mazaheri, a former political prisoner, tweeted that the Islamic Republic officials blamed a low-ranking officer for "everything." He sarcastically noted, along with a photo of a newspaper page regarding the "acquittal" of Farhad Nazari, the then-commander of Tehran's police, that "the rest of the officials were innocent" and "the most innocent was General Nazari, who, just like his friend Ghalibaf, brought Koo University to blood and soil and was completely acquitted in court afterward." Shahryar Shams, a civil activist in Iran, emphasized that after 24 years, "it is still unclear where Saeed Zinali is." He also recalled that Farishta Alizadeh, a student at Alzahra University, was "arrested and, according to their own insiders, was killed under torture and buried in the nameless graves of Khavaran" and that "these are just part of the crimes they committed." July 9 is a reminder in Iran's political calendar of the attack by the Islamic Republic forces on Koo University in Tehran and the series of student protests that continued until July 23 and were suppressed by security forces and individuals known as plainclothes agents. The Salam newspaper was banned after publishing a confidential letter from Saeed Emami (Islamic) to Ghorbanali Dori Najafabadi, the then-Minister of Intelligence. Saeed Emami, the primary suspect in the serial killings of intellectuals and political opponents in Iran, was killed in prison in June 1999 by ingesting cleaning chemicals after being removed from his position as deputy in the Ministry of Intelligence. The story of the Salam newspaper's suspension in July 1999 led to student gatherings in the early hours of July 18, with slogans opposing the violation of freedom of expression. Riot police (Nopu) and plainclothes agents (Ansar Hezbollah) attacked the student dormitories, destroying rooms and injuring several sleeping students. Protests also spread to Koo University in Tabriz, where students continued their protests until July 23 in response to the killing and injury of some individuals. According to a 2000 report by the UN Human Rights Rapporteur, nearly 1,500 people were arrested during the student protests in Tehran. The Abdolrahman Boroumand Foundation also reported that at least eight people were killed during these protests (and during the dormitory attack). Among the victims of July 9, Ezzat Ebrahimnejad is the only fatality from the Koo University incident that the Islamic Republic has officially acknowledged. There is still no news about the fate of Saeed Zinali, a protester who was arrested by security forces at his home a few days after July 9. Farishta Alizadeh, a student at Alzahra University, is also one of the missing individuals from the Koo University incident. Manoochehr Mohammadi, a political activist and former student activist who, after the July 9, 1999 incident, was arrested along with his brother Akbar Mohammadi and initially sentenced to death, later received sentences of 15 and 13 years in prison, respectively, stated in an interview with VOA that the "essence of the student movement" is "like a fire under the ashes" that, as soon as the wind blows, "the ashes will be swept aside and the fire will erupt."