Mahmoud Sadeghi: At Least 80 to 90 University Professors Were Fired or Had Their Contracts Canceled in the 13th Government

The Secretary-General of the Islamic Association of University Instructors states that between 80 to 90 university professors were fired or had their contracts canceled during the previous government, most of whom were dismissed for "spurious reasons" and in some cases for "political reasons and suspicion." Mahmoud Sadeghi, in an interview with the Jamaran website published on Saturday, September 1, stated that 1,500 professors, including himself, faced issues regarding their annual promotions due to expressing opinions about the protests of 2022. He also mentioned that there is no accurate statistic on the number of dismissed professors or those whose contracts were canceled. He added, "The statistics we managed to gather at one point were between 80 to 90, but later we realized that some preferred not to be included in the statistics at all." The Iranian Minister of Science announced a re-examination of recent hires in universities. According to this former member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, some believed that announcing their situation would cause trouble, and they preferred not to disclose it, hoping that the issue would be resolved. The Secretary-General of the Islamic Association of University Instructors also added cases of forced retirements, stating, "Apart from these individuals, there were professors who were on probation and had no support, or individuals who were forced into retirement before reaching retirement age." Additionally, Sadeghi noted that a significant number of professors were in the recruitment stages and, despite passing most stages, were eliminated during interviews. Signing statements and campaigns are other issues that, according to Sadeghi, led to confrontations with professors, and in cases where individuals were formally employed and "they could not do anything with them," like himself, they faced difficulties in obtaining annual promotions. Mahmoud Sadeghi emphasized that most of these actions were taken for "spurious reasons," sometimes political and based on suspicions they had about individuals; recruitment committees rejected professors and, if necessary, documented their decisions based on inquiries from security agencies. After the protests of 2022, pressures on protesting students and supporting professors intensified, and many non-aligned professors were dismissed, suspended, or forced into retirement. Massoud Pezeshkian, on September 1 of this year at the introduction ceremony of the new Minister of Science, called for a review of the cases of all professors who were either dismissed or had their contracts canceled. On Saturday, September 1, just a few days after these statements, Hossein Simayi Sarraf, the Minister of Science, announced that the files of recent hires in the country's universities would be reviewed again. In his interview with Jamaran, Mahmoud Sadeghi referred to the case of Ali Sharifi Zarqi and his return to the university, stating, "Returning individuals is good, but the President and the Minister of Science must reform the processes; the recruitment and status conversion processes must be corrected and clarified." Sadeghi also stated that returning all dismissed individuals is not feasible unless a special directive is issued regarding this matter.