Khamenei: Some Were Wronged in the Scholarship Issue

While the Iranian Ministry of Science had previously reported the cancellation of 863 'illegal' scholarships, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic stated, 'Thorough investigations show that the scholarship issue was not as it was portrayed in the newspapers.' Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, without referring to the details of what he called 'thorough investigations,' added: 'But if there were issues, they should have been resolved through legal means... not by creating noise and uproar.' According to the official website of the Supreme Leader's office, Khamenei emphasized that 'some were wronged in this matter.' He also described what he called 'marginalization' around this issue as 'one of the worst actions in recent years' and an example of what he termed 'political maneuvering' in universities. Khamenei stressed: 'The poison injected into universities regarding this issue stemmed from a politically-driven mindset and unfortunately was against the law, against prudence, and against ethics.' After the election of Hassan Rouhani, Iranian Ministry of Science officials reported that over three thousand individuals had been illegally granted scholarships during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency. The disclosure of these 'illegal' scholarships was one of the reasons for the impeachment and dismissal of Reza Faraji Dana, the former Minister of Science, during a session of the Islamic Consultative Assembly on August 20. Following this, the Ministry of Science announced on November 2, 2014, the results of an investigation into the cases of 3,772 individuals who were granted scholarships without taking exams from 2009 to 2013, reporting the cancellation of 863 'illegal' scholarships. The ministry's announcement stated without naming individuals that 'a higher education manager' had resolved personal family issues through granting scholarships and that 'several individuals from one family' had been awarded scholarships. Previously, some media outlets reported that the names of several members of parliament and their children, including the child and office manager of Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi, the Minister of Science during Ahmadinejad's presidency and the head of the Education Commission of the ninth parliament, were also included in the list of 'illegal scholarships.' Javad Haravi, a member of parliament, also reported on July 20, 2014, that 10 members of the ninth parliament and 10 members of the eighth parliament had benefited from these 'illegal scholarships.' Earlier, the Fararu website reported on September 17, 2013, that Sara Daneshju, the daughter of Kamran Daneshju, the Minister of Science in the tenth government, received a PhD scholarship from Tarbiat Modares University in the final days of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency. In response to Khamenei's remarks, Saadollah Nasiri Qidari, the parliamentary deputy of the Minister of Science, stated that 'all activities regarding the investigation of illegal scholarships were conducted in a technical and non-political manner.' However, he also added that the Supreme Leader's remarks were 'related to the media coverage of the scholarships,' which, according to Khamenei, 'is completely correct, and in this path, some were wronged, and this issue should not have been made public.' He mentioned that 'there was some mischief regarding the names of the scholarships, and we are also pursuing how this information was communicated to some newspapers and media, and we are ready to provide these leads to the authorities.' He emphasized: 'If someone's rights have been violated illegally, they must be restored, and the violator must be punished.'