Iranian Regime Arrests Socialist Students
According to the latest report - December 23, 2007 - from the Committee for the Freedom of the University Students, support group for dissident students at Amir Kabir University of Technology (formerly Tehran Polytechnic), it has been more than 3 weeks since the beginning of these arrests desribed below and during this period neither the family members nor the students’ lawyers have been permitted to meet them. In a few cases the inspectors have threatened the families so that they may not ask for a lawyer. Since new arrests are going on every day, nobody knows about the future of the imprisoned students.
From an Iranian
Correspondent.
December 7 2007. During the past few days, over 20 independent
socialist students from universities at Tehran, Tabriz, Ahvaz and
Shiraz have been arrested by the security forces of the Islamic
Republic. A statement of support from the Unity Center of
the Free University of Tabriz emphasizes that Iran's young independent
socialist activists have been especially targeted because of the
links they have forged with labor and womens rights movements.
I appeal to you to do whatever you can to publicize these arrests
and demand the students' immediate release. Below please find
a list of the names of the arrested students and a statement
by the Unity Center of the Free University of Tabriz.
Names of students arrested since December 2, 2008 who still
remain in prison:
Anushe Azadfar
Ilnaz Jamshidi
Mehdi grabloo
Nader Ahsani
Behruz Karimi Zadeh
Keyvan Amiri Eliyasi
Nassim Soltan Beigi
Ali Kalani
Amir Mehrzad
Milad Moini
Behrang Zandi
Hamed Mohamadi
Arash Pakzad
Ali Salem
Mohsen Ghamin
Roozbeh Safshekan
Roozbehan Amiri
Yasir Pir Hayati
Said Aqam Ali Khalili
Protest Against the Mass Arrests of Socialist Students
at Tehran’s Universities
Statement by the Unity Center of the Free University of
Tabriz (Iran)
December 5, 2007
Friends, Students, the Iranian Nation:
The boots of dictatorship cast a heavy shadow on Iranian universities.
Even as previously arrested students from Amir Kabir and other Tehran
universities endure the most extreme mental and physical tortures,
a new round of mass arrests of socialist students at Tehran’s
universities is being reported.
On Tuesday December 4, just a few days prior to a “Student
Day” rally sponsored by socialist students
at Tehran University, state security forces arrested over
25 Left activists and pivotal figures of this movement at Tehran
University. The slogan of the rally was to be “No To
War. The University Is Not a Military Base.” These
clashes even spread to the University of Mazandaran [Near the Caspian
Sea]. Despite all these pressures and the continuation of
the arrests, students at Tehran University were able to hold their
rally under extreme police presence.
The crackdown on student activists and the extensive suppression
of socialist students in the past few days indicate important points.
A cursory look at the history of student political activism in the
last three decades shows that since the so-called Cultural Revolution
of 1981 and the elimination of all opposition voices at the universities,
and after the overcoming of the deep- freeze by the mid 1990s, and
the experiences of the past few years, this is the first time
that a movement has risen up that is completely independent
of state institutions. This movement is projecting its call
for freedom and equality with perseverance at the university.
In the not so distant past, student movements hoped for support
from certain layers of the rulers or half-heartedly hoped for foreign
intervention. But now the movement that is taking shape at
the university is not contaminated by any of the above mentioned
views. That is because, it cannot tolerate imperialist plunder
and also challenges the totality of native state institutions.
If we look back and review the experience of suppression of students
in the early 1990s and early 2000s (such as the bitter events of
July 1999 and June 2003) we can become aware of the precise consciousness
of the current movement and its understanding of the necessity for
independence from any power institution (be it the rulers or the
critics within the government). It is clear that the most
important reason for the suppression of this forward looking movement
is this definition of its attitude to political deals and its refusal
to be used as a means. Furthermore the link that
this movement has established with other social movements (workers’
movement, women’s movement etc.) is a fine point that should
not be overlooked. Much more remains to be said about this
which needs more space than the current statement.
As a group of students from the Free University of Tabriz, we support
the completely independent student movements and the need for independence
of each movement. We also express our strong opposition
to the latest attacks on students at Tehran’s universities.
We are also very sad to see the deliberate silence of many political
activists and the news boycott concerning the suppression of socialist
students. In expressing our support for the imprisoned students,
we strongly demand the unconditional release of all the arrested
students.
Unity Center, A Student-Political Organization
December 5, 2007
www.kanoonevahdat.blogfa.com
For further information, please contact the Unity Center at
kanoonevahdat@yahoo.com