Tehran University Students Gather in Protest Against 'Repression' Instead of Ensuring Security

Following the death of Amir Mohammad Khaleqi Darmian, a 19-year-old business management student at Tehran University, who reportedly died from knife wounds inflicted by robbers in Tehran, dormitory students at the Koo-ye Pesar (Boys' Dormitory) protested the university officials' negligence in ensuring student safety and their focus on repression and disciplinary actions. Videos shared on social media from the protest on Friday, February 16, show demonstrators chanting slogans such as 'Incompetent official, resign, resign,' 'One of us is gone, who will answer?' and 'Incompetent Zare, responsible for this crime' (referring to Mohammad Ali Zare Chahouki, the director of dormitory affairs at Tehran University). Reports circulating on social media also indicate that security prevented students from leaving the university. Several users reported a heavy security atmosphere near the exit of Koo-ye Pesar, around the dormitory complex, and the Chamran girls' dormitory at Tehran University. The protesting students claim that university officials consider any dissent, even regarding food quality, as 'security and political' issues and suppress them severely. The online newspaper 'Fraz,' which spoke with some friends of the deceased Amir Mohammad Khaleqi, reported that 'the security did not pay any attention to a student being stabbed near the dormitory and did not follow up on Amir Mohammad's treatment status, nor did they provide his family’s contact number to his friends.' Media outlets, citing police reports about the incident, say that Amir Mohammad Khaleqi was attacked on the night of February 14 while returning to the student dormitory in the Amirabad area of Tehran by two motorcycle robbers who stabbed him while stealing his backpack. According to this report, he died on the morning of February 15 from injuries sustained in the attack. He had just started his fourth semester, and according to his friends, it was his first day at work, and he was returning to the dormitory from his workplace in Enghelab Square at the time of the incident. Reports circulating on social media indicate that robberies in the back area of Tehran University have been ongoing for years, with some accounts stating that they occur 'every day and every week in this location and in the surrounding areas of other dormitory complexes.' The Social Sciences Faculty's Guild issued a statement highlighting the lack of security around the dormitory complexes and the officials' negligence, urging the university to pressure relevant authorities to prevent the recurrence of such tragedies. This guild emphasized that 'disregarding the lives of students amounts to complicity in murder.' University officials not only neglected to ensure safety but also prevented students from pursuing this issue. One student following up on this matter told the online newspaper 'Fraz': 'One of the university officials called me and requested that the virtual group formed to pursue security behind the dormitory be deleted.' Users on social media highlighted the university officials' negligence in ensuring student safety while they are quickly engaged in filing cases and disciplinary actions against protesting students or regarding issues such as non-compliance with mandatory hijab. The Telegram channel 'Tehran University Twitter' stated: 'Tehran University has spent a lot on purchasing cameras, gates, and other monitoring equipment for students inside the university over the past two or three years but has not addressed that quiet alley behind the dormitory, which has been unsafe for 25 years.' With the intensification of repression against students in Iran, especially after the nationwide protests of 'Women, Life, Freedom,' several universities have installed facial recognition cameras to monitor compliance with mandatory hijab and track 'entry and exit times' within the university premises.