Students, Activists Threatened, Summoned, Arrested ahead of Mahsa Amini Anniversary

With the first anniversary of the September 16 death in police custody of Mahsa Amini approaches, the Iranian government is intensifying its crackdown on university students and activists across the country.

According to the Telegram channel Khabarnameh Amirkabir, 2,843 university students have been summoned to appear before university disciplinary committees in recent days.

These summonses mainly aim at extracting pledges from students and discouraging them from participating in gatherings marking the anniversary of the protest movement sparked by Amini’s death.

Many of the students targeted are from Tehran’s Iran University of Science and Technology (324), Kerman’s Shahid Bahoner University (282), Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran, (157), Tehran University (153) and Allameh Tabatabai University, also in the capital (149). 

In an attempt to prevent the eruption of renewed demonstrations next month, the government has declared that classes would be held online until October 2. 

A student from Tehran’s Tarbiat Modares University told IranWire that at least 40 students at this university were summoned by security agencies within 24 hours.

Many of those summoned said they went through long interrogations and faced “threats,” according to student union councils.

They also said that, in anticipation of the Amini anniversary and the reopening of universities, disciplinary committees have joined forces with security institutions to "instill fear and intimidation," extract pledges, and fabricate charges against students.

Earlier this week, the United Students Telegram channel revealed a campaign of intimidation by the authorities which consists in summoning students at Tehran’s Khajeh Nasiruddin Toosi University by telephone.

Khajeh Nasir University’s student union condemned such practice as "illegitimate" and vowed to formally ask the university's security agency to halt it.

A student at Tarbiat Modares University told IranWire that security agencies contact the parents of those who fail to answer calls on their personal phone.

During the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protest movement, students held rallies in more than 140 major Iranian universities, resulting in the arrest of over 750 participants. Some of those arrested faced sentences including imprisonment and flogging.

Over the past months, many students have also been expelled from universities or suspended from their studies, including women who did not wear a headscarf.

Meanwhile, many civil activists have been arrested.

Reports said that nine women's rights activists were detained across four cities in Gilan province on August 16, while the Kurdistan Human Rights Network reported the arrests of six Kurds.

Fresh charges have been leveled against six civil activists incarcerated for their involvement in last year’s nationwide protests.

According to civil activist Arsham Rezaei, these six prisoners are accused of "plotting to endanger internal and external security” and "propaganda," charges he rejected as "groundless."

Former political prisoner Arash Ghanbari was re-arrested on August 2 when he went to the Shahreza Intelligence Office in Isfahan province to retrieve his confiscated mobile phone. Some sources also reported the arrest of his sister, Shahnaz Ghanbari.

The wave of arrests also targeted dozens of followers of the Baha'i faith across Iran.

Meanwhile, the security institutions of the Islamic Republic are ratcheting up pressure on the families of demonstrators who were killed during the brutal crackdown on last year’s demonstrations.

Ali and Pouria Rouhi, the father and brother of Hamidreza Rouhi, a 20-year-old university student who was killed while protesting in Tehran province in November, took to Instagram this week to announce that his page would go dark for now. 

Afsun Najafi, whose 23-year-old sister Hadis Najafi was killed in Alborz province in September, has also announced her departure from social media.