Dozens Arrested At University in Tehran

On February 23, protests by students of Tehran’s Amir Kabir University led to attacks by security forces. 70 students were reportedly arrested. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, concerned about the fate and health of the detainees, called on the Iranian government to immediately release the students.

The students were protesting the burial of “unknown martyrs” of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, as protesting students suspected a political motivation behind burying the war martyrs on the university campus.

The “Danesh Amukhtegan” student organization (also known as “Advar Tahkim Vahdat”) announced that on Tuesday morning, four student activists from Amir Kabir (Ahmad Ghasaban, Nariman Mostafavi, Mehdi Mashayekhi, and Abbas Hakimzadeh) were arrested after raids on their homes. Another group of student activists of the Amir Kabir University was arrested last month.

As of last Tusday, 40 out of 70 detained students were reportedly released. The remaining 30 students were reportedly transferred to the infamous Evin prison.

Also on Monday, the office of the Islamic Association of Isfahan Industrial University was attacked by “pressure groups” and later shut down by government officials.

Scenes of the clashes at the Amir Kabir University were displayed on You Tube and some Internet sites.