Motahari: Students Should Not Allow Khorasan to Become an Autonomous Province

Ali Motahari, in response to the restrictions imposed by government agencies and officials specifically in Khorasan Razavi province, stated that students should not allow this province to become an autonomous state. In an interview with Shargh newspaper, Motahari compared the conditions before and after the 1979 revolution, saying that the state of freedom of expression in universities 'was better during the Shah's time than the current situation.' The Vice President of the Islamic Consultative Assembly referred to the conditions of his father, Morteza Motahari, stating: 'Freedom of expression in universities existed relatively compared to the repressive nature of the Shah's regime, and in some cases, figures like Motahari, Bazargan, Shariati, and others could speak, and perhaps the state of freedom of expression during that period was better than in recent years.' He continued by saying that the treatment of university professors during the Shah's era was better than in recent years, emphasizing that although his father was actively involved in the '15 Khordad 42 uprising' and 'spoke against the Shah,' he was imprisoned for nearly two months and was not expelled from the university after his release. The Vice President further stated that if a professor currently expresses criticism 'at that level or even lower,' 'he will be expelled and sometimes we create problems for his family.' In response to the question of what students should do in the face of the constraints that have arisen in Mashhad, he said that 'no one can prevent their fundamental freedoms' and 'they should not allow Khorasan to become an autonomous province because this will create problems for the whole country in the future.' In one of the latest series of events related to speeches and concerts in Khorasan Razavi province, Motahari's speech, which was supposed to be held on the occasion of Arbaeen, was canceled by the prosecutor's order, and the office of reformists in this city was also sealed. Meanwhile, despite the opposition of Mehdi Arabpour, the temporary Friday prayer leader of Kerman, Motahari's speech on Student Day was held at Kerman University on Tuesday, December 15. However, this time, the Vice President's speech was not without controversy. Motahari wrote on his Instagram page that the security of Shahid Bahonar University did not allow journalists to enter the venue of the speech. On the other hand, the appointed security official asked 'irrelevant questions' during the Q&A section, which led students to protest why their questions were not read at the podium.