Continued Crackdown on Students; Suspension and Exile Sentences for Four Students from Tehran University and Tehran University of Medical Sciences

The Islamic Students Association of Tehran University and Tehran University of Medical Sciences reported disciplinary actions against four students from this university. According to the report, Motahareh Ghonei and Mehdi Hadi Zadeh, two former members of the Islamic Students Association of Tehran University and Tehran University of Medical Sciences, have been sentenced to 24 months and 12 months of suspension from education and relocation to Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, respectively. Two other students named Kian Bani Hashemi and Fatemeh Gharibi have also been sentenced to two and a half years of suspension from education, including previous semesters. In recent months, especially after the recent protests in Iran, pressure and repression of students have increased, and many have faced heavy disciplinary rulings or have been deprived of their education, with numerous cases being fabricated against them. Professors who have stood by their students have also faced forced retirement and resignation. In the latest instance of pressure on students, 30 students from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Tehran University have been subjected to case fabrication for participating in a protest following the insulting behavior of the faculty head and have been summoned to the disciplinary committee. The newspaper 'Ham Mihan' recently reported that with the approval of the disciplinary committee regulations in December of last year, the repression of students has intensified and the atmosphere in universities is tense. The report stated that last year, 176 disciplinary rulings, 8 expulsions, and 301 semester suspensions were reported by disciplinary committees, and it was also indicated that most of the case fabrications continued 'without adherence to regulatory standards.' The 'Executive Guidelines for the National Student Disciplinary Regulations,' which established '20 punitive methods' and was signed by the ministers of science and health of the Islamic Republic, was communicated to the country's universities last December. The introduction of these guidelines states that the 'Student Disciplinary Committee' is obliged to address violations with an emphasis on 'religious, ethical, legal, and rights standards.' A student from Beheshti University, in an interview with 'Ham Mihan,' spoke about the security forces' involvement in 'all matters' and the 'thought policing' of protesting students in recent months. Student activists have launched a campaign with the hashtag 'Talk about Suspension' on social media to describe their educational deprivations. Some suspended students have issued a statement calling for the recognition of 'the most basic citizen rights,' including 'the right to education at university,' 'the right to peaceful assembly,' 'the right to freedom of thought and expression,' and 'the right to privacy.' In this statement, published on student Telegram channels, they referred to 'despotism' as the basis for the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic and wrote: 'The government, through its rampant and comprehensive repression to silence any attempt for change and to deprive the possibility of activism, will lead students, as the future of Iran, to the brink of destruction.' The Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, claimed in October of this year that 'enemies' have considered the university as 'the focal point of all their efforts' to 'distort minds, capture hearts, dominate the space of thought and beliefs of our youth.'