Student rallies began to gain momentum in early December. But they appear to be part of a wave of open dissent that began to build in earnest one year ago when -- during a speech by Mahmud Ahmadinejad at Tehran University -- students in the crowd burned photos of the president and chanted, "Death to the dictator!" Similar, if less strident, rallies followed in May and October, with the authorities responding in each case by arresting activists.
On December 4, some 250 students at Tehran University gathered to chant slogans such as “Freedom and Equality!” and “No to war!” About 20 were arrested and sent to Tehran's Evin prison. Several were released but others are still being held, students say. Similar protests spread the next day to the cities of Hamadan, Isfahan, Mazandaran, Shiraz, and Kerman, where students reportedly openly criticized Iran’s disputed nuclear program.
Protests at
Tehran University
"Since the academic year began in October, the students' movements and
activities have not stopped,” Iraj Jamsheedi, an independent journalist, told
RFE/RL from Tehran. “They’ve been ongoing, at different levels, at many
universities across the country. It has become a trend. And unlike in the past,
I don't think their activities will die down after a short while, because their
demands reflect those of the majority of the Iranian people."
'Happy Events'
Authorities had not planned any official events at universities to mark Student Day, which commemorates the death of three students during protests in 1953. That is in sharp contrast to previous years when senior leaders, including Ahmadinejad, made a point of meeting with students. Iranian media said the authorities this year instead planned "happy events" for students, such as "placing flowers on martyrs’ graves."
The students had different plans.
Student Day this year fell at the start of the Muslim
weekend on December 7, so organizers were expected to mount rallies on December
9.
Iran's Intelligence Ministry on December 8 reported detaining several people whom it accused of carrying false student-identification cards and planning an "illegal gathering" at Tehran University. The ministry alleged that the detainees were plotting "to create conflict, disturbances, and unrest" at the behest of "antigovernment groups."
An unspecified number of students with ties to the
Office to Foster Unity (Daftar-e Tahkim-e Wahdat), a leading reformist students'
group, gathered at Tehran University earlier in the day to protest the detention
of their colleagues. A later report by Reuters said photographs indicated
protesters demanding the release of student detainees had damaged bars on one of
the university's gates.
Bahar Hedayat, a member of the women's commission of the Office to Foster
Unity, had predicted ahead of Student Day that young people would protest. She
said they would “demand their rights, including the right to academic freedom
and publish journals reflective of their opinions. They also demand freedom for
political and social organizations." Hedayat, speaking to RFE/RL from Tehran,
said students also are calling more broadly for democratic change, improved
human rights, and the release of students imprisoned for taking part in
demonstrations.
Imprisoned Youth
Parents and relatives of students detained last week
in Tehran were still seeking information about the fate of their children held
at Evin prison. Nasreen Musavi told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that her daughter,
Ilnaz, had been arrested during the protest on December 4 and that the
authorities had denied her any contact with her family or a lawyer. Another
student, Ehsan Azadbar, said he was arrested during the rally along with his
sister Azadeh, and that the authorities had released him only after two days of
interrogation. Azadeh remains in custody.
At least one student has been in prison since 1999.
That year, Iran saw its largest student demonstrations since the 1979 Islamic
Revolution. Thousands took part in demanding freedom. Clashes with police left
five students dead. Similar scenes, on a smallar scale, were seen in 2003. With
some shouting “Death to Khamenei!,” the supreme leader who holds ultimate
religious and political power under the constitution, thousands rallied against
the perceived slow pace of change under then-President Mohammad Khatami, a
reformist. Scores were arrested after clashes with police and radical Muslim
vigilantes.
As the authorities sharpen their current crackdown, Hedayat says that she and other students know they risk arrest, expulsion from school -- even death for campaigning for change against the country's current leadership. “The more active the student movements become, the more intense will become the pressure from the authorities,” Hedayat said.
But the latest protests will continue, she vowed,
because Iranians "can no longer put up with the current political, economic, and
social pressures."
