A BRIEFING ON THE SITUATION OF ACADEMIC FREEDOMS IN
PRESENTED BY THE IRANIAN STUDENTS ISLAMIC ASSOCIATIONS TO THE 16th European Students Convention
Dear Fellow students, faculty, and members of the European Students
We are thankful to you for inviting the Iranian Islamic Students Associations, as the largest student organization in
You are already somewhat aware of the challenges facing Iranian students struggling for their most basic rights in recent years. The reality of our situation is that our academic environment has not only suffered in quality of education but all students and faculty who struggle for their most fundamental rights are expelled and/or imprisoned. They have to be accountable for false judicial prosecutions against them. In the past year and a half alone, more than 200 student critics have been detained, 300 have been suspended from continuing their education, and a large number of faculty have been expelled or forced into retirement.
The present academic environment in Iranian universities is lacking in the most basic academic and research freedoms, as well as it is made so unstable that any attempts by students to demand an improvements is met by a harsh and coordinated response from university presidents, the judiciary, and security forces.
Threats against academic freedoms and violations of the right to education, although officially recognized in the Constitution and in the laws establishing universities more than 70 years ago, are still serious and present. The implementation of policies under the banner of “Cultural Revolution” since 1981 has inflicted serious damage on the universities and has emptied them from qualified faculty.
These policies started shortly after the Islamic revolution with the aim of making universities Islamic. during its first phase, it led to the closure of all universities for two years. It caused a vast purging of the universities from approximately 60,000 students and more than 1200 faculty members. During this process, the Supreme Council for Cultural Revolution became the legislative power in regulating the universities. Most of its rules were aimed at restricting academic freedoms.
During the past 30 years, the universities have faced many ups and downs, but under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his government’s fundamentalist policies, the most intense threats against academic freedoms have been made, be it within laws and regulations or as arbitrary decisions.
After Mr. Ahmadinejad came to power, the Ministry of Higher Education came under the control of former security and military officials. The new Minister replaced and appointed new university presidents and opposed procedures for electing them. Most of the present university presidents are either former military officials or lack academic qualifications to hold such posts. They are followers of government policies and opponents of independence for universities.
The independence of universities was destroyed beginning in 2005 with attempts to bury “Unknown Martyrs” in university campuses that was opposed by students. It expanded with the expulsion of popular faculty such as Dr. Namakdoost and getting rid of programs such as the Seminar on Democracy in the Social Sciences College of Tehran University which the university president officially announced was due to a request by the Revolutionary Guards and the Intelligence Ministry.
Such outside interferences in the universities was followed by officially promoted slogans, announced by high-ranking military commanders, calling for a second Cultural Revolution and Isalmization of Universities in 2007. The Minister of Science announced the formation of a committee for this purpose within his Ministry.
Unfortunately, during the past two years, university presidents have collaborated directly and extensively with the Intelligence Ministry to intensify an unsafe and repressive environment on university campuses. Because of this, the students’ main slogans have been “The university is not a military garrison!”, calling for resignation of university presidents as their major demand.
The right to education for all, enshrined in the Constitution, has also been severely violated during the past three years. Students have been denied this right based on their opinion, gender, social statues, religion, and place of birth. Disciplinary Committees have become active on campuses during the past three years. Working closely with judiciary, security, and intelligence agents, as well as with university presidents, these Committees continuously summon students, suspend them from education– temporarily or permanently– and even detain and prosecute them.
During the past three years, this process has led to the summoning of more than 800 student activists by the Disciplinary Committees, resulting in suspension of more than 300 students from continuing their education, preventing approximately 100 students for registration in undergraduate and graduate programs due to their dissident views, and detention of more than 200 students, 20 of whom remain in prison at the moment. Detainees have been subjected to torture, with one student detainee, Ebrahim Lotfallahi dying in detention under suspicious circumstances in Kurdistan. Another is the case of three editors of student publications at Amir Kabir University, Ehsan Mansouri, Majid Tavakoli, and Ahmad Ghasaban, who spent 15 months in prison.
Habib Latifi, a Kurdish student has been tortured severely and was sentenced to execution last July. Hedayat Ghazali and Sabah Nasiri are two other Kurdish students who are currently in detention and under torture. Several Azerbaijani students are also currently in detention, simply for advocating for right to primary education in mother tongue and have been suspended from continuing their education.
Implementation of policies based on gender has resulted in preferential gender-based admission at all levels of higher education. These policies were implemented in 26 majors in 2006 and in 32 majors in 2007, thereby preventing some qualified female students from entering universities in these majors.
Female students are summoned to Disciplinary Committees for their dress codes more than male students and have received suspension sentences. Rape and sexual threats against female students by university officials has become common, such as a case in Zanjan University in 2008, that resulted in expulsion of the university deputy who had engaged in such conduct.
Allocation of special admissions for students affiliated with special social groups such as those belonging to the state-controlled militia of Basij has violated equal opportunity for university admissions. In 2007, 200,000 special slots were awarded to Basiji students at Azad University alone. Policies that restrict admission of students in provinces to universities in their home-towns has deprived applicants of registering in elite universities in Tehran in 2007.
Faculty, researchers, and university staff do not enjoy any job security. This lack of job security was intensified after Mr. Ahmadinejad’s speech in 2005 in which he said the universities must be purged of liberal and secular faculty. Following his speech, faculty espousing alternative viewpoints who were hired only as adjunct as well as those who were members of permanent staff were fired. Dr. Namakdoost Tehrani, Mohsen Kadivar, Hashem Aghajari, Dr. Bashirieh, Dr. Hadi Semati, and Dr. Shahandeh are some of those who were fired. In addition Mojtahed Shabestry, Dr. Toosi, Dr. Iraqi, Hasan Dorusian, and Dr. Safaii are some of the faculty who were forced into retirement. In 2008, another 30 top professors joined this list.
On top of firings and forced retirements, the scientific ties of the faculty with their international counterparts has also been limited and threatened. A recent example is Dr. Zakerian who was invited to lecture at Pennsylvania University. He has been in detention since July 2008 and the authorities have not provided any information about him. Also two well-known and internationally recognized AIDS physicians, Arash and Kamiar Alaei are in detention for more than four months now.
Professors’ freedoms in choosing their teaching topics has been also targeted and threatened. Security agents make reports of what is being thought inside classrooms and officials have installed video cameras inside classrooms, leading to expulsion of faculty based on what they say during their lectures. Dr. Hasanini, Dr. Zarin Kalak, and Dr. Jamshid Ghashang are examples of faculty fired because of topics they discussed in their classrooms during the past year and a half.
Research topics are also heavily controlled and limited, particularly in Social Sciences, Humanities, and Political Science. Students who write their dissertations with critical analysis of current social and political conditions are not allowed to complete and defend their dissertations.
Violations of freedoms of expression, assembly, and organization are systematic and planned. In the past three years, majority of student publications throughout the country have been shut. Permits for new publications have been denied, and existing publications are censored prior to their release. Writers, editors and directors of student publications have been summoned by Disciplinary Committees and sentenced to suspension.
Student gatherings have been routinely put down violently, leading to arrests and imprisonments. The gathering of students in Shahrud University in April 2007, in Alameh Tabatabai and Amir Kabir Universities in May 2007, mass detentions of students belonging to Equality and Justice Seeking Group in December 2007 prior to holding a gathering on the occasion of Student Day in Tehran, Shiraz, and Babolsar, in Tehran University in February 2008, in Azad University of Shahrud in March 2008, in Shiraz University in March 2008, in Sahand University and Tehran university’s Teachers College in 2008 are some examples of denial of right to assembly.
In these gatherings, despite violent crackdown and arrests, as many as 5000 students have participated. All of these gatherings have resulted in arrests and imprisonment of students. The most notable instances include detention of all members of the central committee of Office to Foster Unity following the gathering of June 2007 at Amir Kabir University and detention of 55 students belonging to the Equality and Justice Seeking group in December 2007. The demands of students in these gatherings were trade-union related such as improvements in conditions of dormitories, cafeterias, freedom of expression, stopping summons by Disciplinary Committees, reversal of suspension sentences, removal of all kinds of discrimination, academic freedoms, and independence of universities.
Students groups and associations have also been mercilessly attacked by security forces. After the dissolution of student organizations in the aftermath of the 1981 Cultural Revolution, only two organizations survived: Islamic Associations and Basij Militia Associations. After the social upheavals of the 1990s, Islamic Associations began to assert their independence and were able to represent a large number of students.
During the reformist government of 1997-2005, other student groups such as Liberal Students, and the Equality and Justice Seeking Group came into existence. But in the past three years, all of these organizations have been attacked and dismantled. Islamic Associations have been banned and subjected to violence throughout the country. In the past three years, 45 dissident organizations have been dissolved and 200 of their officials have been summoned. Despite all these pressures, the Islamic Associations held elections in 2007 and 2008 which were met violently by the authorities, leading to expulsion of several students. Student elections at Alameh Tabatabai, Amir Kabir University, Bu Ali Sina University, and Tabriz University are such examples.
Dear Friends,
What we have said here is only a brief listing of academic violations and denial of right to education in Iranian universities today. Students are determined to continue their legal and rightful struggle to promote independence of universities and uphold academic freedoms, although many are sacrificed down this path. In our perseverance, we need international solidarity and support from students such as yourselves, and faculty and student unions from across the world. This was a golden opportunity to join you and we appreciate the chance to be at your convention. We sincerely hope it will lead to long-lasting ties between us. Iranian professors desperately need the support of cultural institutions such as UNESCO and organizations such as Education International to be able to hold on to their jobs. Help them to transform the present military mentality ruling our universities to a free academic environment.
Hoping for the day when Iranian students and faculty can join their colleagues in exchanging their ideas freely.
What we have said here is only a brief listing of academic violations and denial of right to education in Iranian universities today. Students are determined to continue their legal and rightful struggle to promote independence of universities and uphold academic freedoms, although many are sacrificed down this path.
Iran is a state party to both the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (without reservation) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), both of which prohibit the execution of persons under the age of 18 at the time of their offense. In ratifying the CRC, Iran declared an extremely broad reservation, “not to apply any provisions or articles of the Convention that are incompatible with Islamic Laws.”
one must not forget that one aspect of “security” cases is the image that they carry for the groups that advance such issues. Therefore, before fake charges take to the news-media and become public, those who have had a hand in arresting the students must be weakened. Otherwise, after the severe charges are made public, repeated and are tied to the image of the actors, even the intervention of the head of the judiciary (as history demonstrates) cannot be of much help to the detainees.
How can we tell the judiciary officials of Iran that according to law juveniles can stay alive and continue to live with appropriate and suitable punishment? How must one make this request from the judiciary a public and wide-spread demand and point out that killing a juvenile who has not wholeheartedly committed an act does not solve any of the real problems facing the country?
Thousands of university students in an Iranian city have held a protest against the attempted sexual harassment of a female colleague by a top university official, the press reported on Monday. About 3,000 students at the university in the northwestern city of Zanjan staged the sit-in protest over the weekend at a sports hall on campus, the reports said.
