Tehran, Feb 27, IRNA -- About 150 students of Tehran University's Faculty of Social Science held a sit-in protest on Sunday to denounce a judicial verdict against one of instructors of Allameh Tabatabaei University.

The sit-in protest lasted for two hours from 12:30 to 14:30 local time (0900-1100 hours GMT) at the end of which they issued a statement protesting the verdict against the university teacher and other political activists of the academic community.

IRNA reporter said that other students from the Faculty of Management and Faculty of Foreign Languages joined the sit-in protest later issuing separate statements in condemnation of the judicial action against the academic activists.

Member of the Central Council of the Islamic Association of Faculty of Social Science Ali Akbarzadeh told IRNA on the sidelines of the sit-in protest that the university should be respected as a free environment for scientific debates. The students and teachers should not be exposed to narrow-minded political restrictions.

He said that the sit-in protest was staged by the reformist students of the Faculty of Social Science of Tehran University.