Iranian University Professors Sacked for Supporting Protests

Iranian academic authorities fired at least three university professors over the past few days after they came out in support of student protests, the country's Student Union reported August 3. 

Two professors at the Department of Veterinary Medicine of Kerman’s Bahonar University, Baharak Akhtardanesh and Mohammad Mahdi Oloomi, were both dismissed after expressing support for the protest movement on social media. 

In the capital, Raham Faghani Khoraskani, a member of the Faculty of Architecture at Beheshti University, was fired and later summoned by a security institution, while Naser Moghadam Koohi, a professor at the Department of Visual Communication of Tehran University, faced a termination of employment for similar reasons.

"Politically motivated dismissals for solely supporting students can lead to a lack of dedicated professors in the long run," the Student Union warned in a statement. "It may also prioritize non-academic criteria and allow unqualified academics to enter the university.”

Many Iranian university professors have faced expulsion for their support of protests; others have been pushed from their jobs.

On July 31, Mohsen Ranani, a faculty member of Tehran University's Department of Economics, said that two professors from Isfahan University’s Faculty of Theology were suspended and had their salaries blocked without prior notice. 

Anger over the September 2022 death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini has prompted Iranians to take to the streets to demand fundamental economic, social and political changes in the country.

Universities have been protest hotspots, with many students refusing to attend classes. Some protesting female students have removed and burned their headscarves.

At least 700 protesting students have been arrested, activists say. Many have faced sentences including imprisonment and flogging, while others have been expelled from universities or suspended from their studies.