Student Statement Ahead of December 7: Fear of Repeating the Days of 'Women, Life, Freedom' Has Robbed Security Officials of Sleep

A group of student activists from Tarbiat Modares University announced in a statement ahead of December 7 that "this year we are approaching Student Day under conditions where the university is experiencing one of the most repressive periods in its history, and the security managers of the Ministry of Science are trying to calm their frightened and anxious inner selves through repression." The statement continues: "Fear of the repetition of the glorious days of 'Women, Life, Freedom' has robbed the security managers of the Ministry of Science and universities of sleep." The student activists emphasize in the statement: "They are trying to maintain their frightened and anxious inner selves through the approval of anti-university disciplinary regulations, the suspension and expulsion of protesting students and professors, and the increase of surveillance and repression tools." In a part of this statement, the group describes the ruling structure as an "organism" that lacks brain activity, emphasizing that "the official body of the university today, like the entirety of the government, acts like an organism whose brain has stopped working." The statement notes: "Students of Tarbiat Modares University, along with other universities in the country, created one of the most glorious moments of the student movement during the Mahsa (Zhina) movement." The statement identifies Farhad Daneshju as a "security manager" and other university administrators, including Rasoul Hossemand, head of the university's Basij, and Farhad Daneshju's security advisor, Mohammad Hossein Parkareh, as being "in the service of security-intelligence institutions" for suppressing civil protests. In this statement, the suppressors of students are referred to as "Shaban Bi-Mokh" who were once accomplices of coup plotters, have slaughtered poets and intellectuals, and today "wear suits, have earned the title of doctor, and have become university administrators." Pressure on students, repression, and harassment, especially of female students, have intensified following the nationwide protests of "Women, Life, Freedom," with many students being arrested or suspended, and professors who supported them facing similar fates. The commander of the IRGC claimed on September 25, 2023, that "enemies" consider 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." Students and professors from over 120 universities in Iran, during the nationwide protests of 2022, expressed support for the protesting people and called for the "overthrow" and elimination of the entirety of the Islamic Republic in Iran. Armita Paveer, a detained student, stated: "I have no underlying illness; the Islamic Republic is responsible for any incident." Reports of "mass arrests" of female civil activists in Rasht have been published. The two-day strike of students at Tarbiat Modares University has ended; they have established a "military government." Protests against prison sentences for Zia Nabavi and Hasti Amiri: We are facing a chain of various types of repression in the university. The widespread disqualification of students in the elections of scientific associations at Shahid Beheshti University. Exclusive: A protesting student stated: The university has been under attack by repressive forces over the past year.