Reyhaneh Ebrahimvandi Sentenced to Two Semesters of Academic Suspension for 'Creating Disturbance'

Reyhaneh Ebrahimvandi, an undergraduate counseling student at Alzahra University, announced that she has been sentenced to two semesters of academic suspension by the university's disciplinary committee. According to Ebrahimvandi, she was accused of 'creating disturbance and chaos in the university courtyard and spreading falsehoods,' with specific instances of these accusations being her reactions to the imprisonment of student activists and her questioning of Alireza Zakani, the mayor of Tehran, regarding the 'painful death of Armita Garavand.' In a social media post, Ebrahimvandi wrote: 'The oppression that has been inflicted on the university community in the years leading up to the Jina movement is unprecedented repression.' Following the 'Women, Life, Freedom' protests, pressures on protesting students and supportive professors have intensified, and reports indicate that this trend has continued in recent weeks. A few days ago, Yekta Mirzaei, a sociology student at the University of Tehran, reported that the university's disciplinary committee had sentenced her to two semesters of academic suspension (one active and one deferred). Mirzaei stated that her charges included 'failure to observe hijab, failure to maintain student decorum, and insulting national or Islamic symbols and sanctities.' Previously, Kian Bani Hashemi, a master's student in organizational behavior management at the University of Tehran, had reported that his initial ruling was finalized after six months in the disciplinary committee. He was sentenced to one semester of academic suspension, taking into account his previous years of study. The news of these rulings comes as Massoud Pezeshkian, the President of Iran, called on Thursday for the reinstatement of expelled students from universities and a review of the cases of expelled professors.