Minister of Science: Student Allegations Must Be Investigated at Universities

The Minister of Science, Research, and Technology in Hassan Rouhani's government states that allegations against students, even if they are 'judicial', must be examined within the university. Mansour Gholami announced this in an interview with ISNA, asserting that 'students are part of the university family'. He emphasized that the Ministry of Science insists that their allegations, even if they occur outside the universities, should be addressed within these institutions, and the involvement of other bodies will not assist students. He denied any summons of students by the Ministry of Science, stating, 'The Ministry of Science does not summon any students, and we have not summoned any students recently.' These statements from the highest authority in the Ministry of Science come after several students, some of whom were not present at the protests, were arrested during nationwide protests in January. Gholami had previously stated that 'the students who were arrested were not within the university environment or its vicinity. All arrests occurred outside the university environment.' However, Tehran representatives in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, Fereydoun Mousavi and Mahmoud Sadeghi, reported that the arresting bodies claimed that most arrests were described as 'preventive'. This is while legal experts like Shirin Ebadi and Nasrin Sotoudeh have declared that there is no law in Iran for preemptive arrests aimed at prevention. Various sources reported that around 130 students were arrested from different universities during the January protests. Although Gholamreza Ghafari, the cultural and social deputy of the Minister of Science, stated a few days after these protests that 'we do not have an accurate number of detained students', he added that 'more than 90 percent' of the arrested students have been released. Following the January protests, student unions across Iran declared the 'mass and illegal' arrests of several university students as a sign of the authorities' 'fear' of independent movements. Thirty-five student unions criticized the government and all responsible bodies for putting pressure on 'independent and union activists across the country' as they seized the 'opportunity' presented by the onset of 'widespread livelihood-focused protests'. More than 1,500 students from the University of Tehran and Tehran University of Medical Sciences also issued a protest statement, declaring that they would remain 'sensitive' to the issuance of judicial sentences and the formation of cases that could lead to 'any form of entanglement, deprivation, and imprisonment' for the detained students. Additionally, over 50 Iranian professors from universities abroad issued a statement protesting the detention of dozens of students and calling for their unconditional release. In Iran, in addition to the disciplinary committees' actions against students, the Ministry of Intelligence, the Revolutionary Guards' Intelligence, and the representative office of the Supreme Leader in universities also play an active role in case-making and dealing with students. For example, the general qualifications of some students, known as 'starred students', are not approved for continuing their education by a student selection committee in the Assessment Organization, which inquires about students from bodies such as the Ministry of Intelligence, the police, and university security.