Poisonings at Iranian University amid Clampdown on Students, Professors

The repression against professors and university students deemed as critical to the Islamic Republic continues unabated in Iran.

During the first week of the new academic year, at least nine male students and three female students were barred from entering Tehran’s Amirkabir University of Technology, according to Amirkabir News Telegram Channel.

A number of these students had previously been arrested by security agencies during nationwide protests sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody in September last year.

Amirkabir News Telegram Channel said that the university's security forces played a significant role in building a case against Alireza Baradaran Shoraka that led to his "unlawful" expulsion, despite the student's "excellent academic record."

The channel exposed the key involvement of university security departments in constructing cases against students, saying that security officers "provided personal information and profile photos of students to the police to facilitate their identification."

It has also noted that "the list of banned students at Amirkabir University is updated daily."

Many students have been excluded from universities on grounds such as "open cases in disciplinary committees and security reports," in contravention of the universities’ disciplinary regulations.

University security officers have also prevented female students from entering the campus for non-compliance with mandatory hijab rules and threatened them with disciplinary action.

The channel argued that security officers lack the authority to do this "under any provision or clause in the disciplinary code." 

Students can only be barred from entry by an order from the university’s disciplinary committee or a decree from its president.

Collective Resignation of Sharif University Professors from Trade Union Council

On September 30, the secretary and other members of the professors' union council at Tehran’s Sharif University of Technology tendered their resignations in protest of the growing number of professors being dismissed.

Over the past months, many prominent university professors have been expelled across Iran for supporting the protesting students and have been replaced by supporters of the government's policies.

Vahid Karimi, a professor in the Faculty of Physics and the secretary of the Sharif University Professors Association, announced his decision to resign, citing a "summon" from an organization that is not affiliated with the university.

This respected professor expressed his surprise at being summoned by an external security organization to discuss university issues, emphasizing that while he welcomes such discussions in his office, he views involvement of an external institution as a sign of disrespect for the entire academic faculty.

Shortly after the publication of Karimi’s letter, professors Saeed Shahrokhian from the Faculty of Chemistry and Fardin Jafarzadeh from the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Sharif University also resigned from the council. 

On the evening of September 30, professors Mahsohrab Rahwar from the Faculty of Physics and Ali Abedian from the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering also resigned from the Professors' Union Council of Sharif University.

Poisoning of Dozens of Students at Sabzevar University

On September 30, Mohammad Salari, the president of Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences in Razavi Khorasan Province, announced that 46 students were hospitalized after being poisoned two days earlier. 

Salari reported that "the condition of all the affected individuals" was stable. However, the cause of the poisoning and its source remained a mystery. 

Students attributed the poisoning to "spoiled food served in the student dormitory."

The Telegram channel of the country's student union councils quoted students from the university as saying that the "symptoms of poisoning appeared after pasta was distributed during dinner."

"The university officials not only refused to acknowledge the food poisoning…claiming that it was a flu or coronavirus symptom," the report said.

State news agencies and Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), initially quoted "informed sources" as suggesting that "viral poisoning may have affected the students" and ruled out food poisoning.

After the president of Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences confirmed the food poisoning, Tasnim reported that students had been hospitalized with symptoms such as nausea, headaches and abdominal pain.

During nationwide protests last year, thousands of Iranian university students and school children were hospitalized with symptoms of poisoning. 

Despite signs indicating intentional poisoning with some form of chemical gas in most of these incidents, officials at the Ministries of Science and Education attributed them to factors like "mass hysteria."