University Crackdown: New Wave of Student, Academic Arrests in Iran

January 11, 2024

1 min read

The Iranian authorities have escalated their crackdown on dissent at universities in recent days, arresting and summoning many students and academics across the country

Mohammed Shebahati, a Tehran University anthropology student, was beaten and arrested on January 10, exactly one year after his release from previous custody

The Iranian authorities have escalated their crackdown on dissent at universities in recent days, arresting and summoning many students and academics across the country.

The clampdown does not spare Iranian students studying abroad, with reports saying that those who return home are being pressured by security agencies and facing legal cases.

The confiscation of passports, detention and repeated interrogations are among the tactics used against the students.

Mohammed Shebahati, a Tehran University anthropology student, was beaten and arrested on January 10, exactly one year after his release from previous custody.

Shebahati’s first arrest related to his participation in nationwide protests that erupted in September 2022.

Student union councils denounced his latest incarceration as unjust.

A bomb attack in the southeastern city of Kerman on January 3 hit crowds at a memorial ceremony for Qassem Soleimani, a top commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) killed in a US drone strike in Iraq in January 2020.

The Sunni extremist group Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack that killed nearly 100 people.

Criticizing Soleimani or the authorities for failing to provide safety to the Iranian population has resulted in student arrests.

Amir Rahpeykar, a student at Isfahan University of Technology, Mehdi Sa'adati from Yaz University of Medical Sciences, Shahin Ghafouri from Qorveh Azad University and Sorena Alipour from Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences were among those jailed on such grounds.

Since the country was rocked by months of widespread protests, authorities have been clamping down on any sign of dissent at universities with arrests, intrusive high-tech surveillance, the dismantling of student organizations and purging of professors.

Hundreds of students, who have been at the forefront of the protest movement, have been expelled or suspended for participating in demonstrations or refusing to wear the mandatory headscarf.