Global Student Assembly Report on Nationwide Protests in Iran: 70,000 Students Participated in the 'Mahsa Revolution'

The Global Student Assembly, known as 'GSF', reported on Wednesday, June 6, that over 70,000 protesting students participated in the nationwide protests of 2022 in Iran. The report also states that during the 'Women, Life, Freedom' movement, more than 3,789 students were suppressed in various ways by the Islamic Republic. Furthermore, it mentions that from September 2022 to March 2023, over 804 students were arrested. The report highlights the issuance of over 300 student statements and the suppression of more than 58 professors. This report was prepared by the Amir Kabir newsletter and published on the Global Student Assembly's website. The Amir Kabir newsletter obtained part of this information through leaks from the security offices of the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology. The report indicates that during the nationwide protests of 2022 and until the fall of that year, a total of 570 demonstrations were organized at universities in Iran, including 539 gatherings at public universities and 31 at private universities. The first student protest occurred on September 18, 2022, at the University of Tehran, followed by one of the largest student protests at Amir Kabir University (Tehran Polytechnic) the next day, with over a thousand students participating. The report mentions that the Islamic Republic's fear of widespread protests reached a point where the Ministry of Science and Technology ordered all universities in Iran to hold their first week of classes virtually in September 2022. The unprecedented crackdown on Iranian universities intensified in the weeks following the reopening of classes. In one of the darkest university crimes, security forces and plainclothes agents entered Sharif University of Technology on Sunday, October 2, 2022, and shot at students with air guns and paintball guns. This incident has become known among students as 'Black Sunday'. Leaked statistics from the Ministry of Science's security office indicate that the total number of participants in the fall 2022 protests exceeded 70,000 students. Tehran province hosted the most student protests, with 215 gatherings. Universities in East Azerbaijan and Semnan provinces followed with 29 gatherings each. In terms of the highest number of student protests, Allameh Tabatabai University had 28 protests, Shahid Beheshti University had 26, and the universities of Tehran and Khajeh Nasir al-Din Tusi each had 20 protests. From September 2022 to the end of March 2023, over 804 students, including 598 male students and 206 female students, were arrested. Amir Kabir University and Allameh Tabatabai University each had the highest number of arrested students, with 115 each. During the nationwide protests in the fall of 2022, at least 281 students were suspended, with the University of Tehran leading with 88 students, followed by Malayer University with 47 and Yasouj University with 32 students. The transfer of Zia Nabavi to solitary confinement after reporting on 'SAS' activity in prison, punitive measures against Zia Nabavi and Ahmadreza Haeri for informing about the conditions of prisoners, personal accounts of the medical mistreatment of political prisoners, a 'systematic deliberate process' in the Islamic Republic, Khajeh Nasir University: formation of virtual groups of over 100 people must be authorized; increased pressure on students in Iran, Fahimeh Soltani, an arrested student, was released on 'bail'; students' accounts of security forces' confrontations; entering universities with fear and anxiety; protests against the 'suppression' of optional hijab; some students at Amir Kabir University refrained from attending classes; preventing students from entering Tehran Polytechnic; 'Noor Plan' reached universities; summoning students due to activities on social media.