Arrest of students in Iran continues

Arrest of students in Iran continues
“Freedom and Equality Seeking Students” in Iran in a statement issued on Wednesday January 16, have announced that the Iranian authorities have arrested yet another group of students activists. As before, the security forces have literally abducted these students from their homes and dormitories. In the aforementioned statement the names of 10 students have been published. They are: 1-Arash Dashtestani; 2- Amin Ghazaie; 3- Bijzhan Sabagh; 4- Anahita Hosseini; 5- Morteza Khedmatlou; 6-Mohammad Pour Abdollah; 7- Bita Samimzad; 8- Behzad Bagheri; 9- Soroush Sabet; 10 Morteza Aslahchi. The details of other detainees will be announced as they become available.

The number of jailed students imprisoned since December 2, 2007 has risen to 44. The names of the rest of the students are as follows:


1. Mehdi Gerailoo
2. Nader Ehsani
3. Anoosheh Azadbar
4. Ilnaz Jamshidi
5. Behrooz Karimizadeh
6. Saeed Habibi
7. Ali Salem
8. Ali Kolaie
9. Amir Mehrdad
10. Mohsen Ghamin
11. Milad Omrani
12. Abed Tavancheh
13. Sadra Pirhayati
14. Roozbeh Safshekan
15. Saeed Aghamali
16. Roozbehan Amiri
17. Nasim Soltanbeigi
18. Mahsa Mohebi
19. Keyvan Amiri Alyasi
20. Hadi Salari
21. Amir Aghaie
22. Farshid Farhadi Ahangaran
23. Saeed Aghakhani
24. Okhtai Hosseini
25. Soroush Hashempour
26. Arash Pakzad
27. Mehdi Allahyari
28. Majid Ashrafnejad
29. Peyman Piran
30. Reza Arab
31. Mohammad Saleh Aboman
32. Sohrab Karimi
33. Farshid Doostipour
34. Javad Alizadeh
35. Amin Ghaza’ee
36. Anahita Hoseini
37. Bita SamimiZad
38. Bizhan Sabbagh
39. Behzad Bagheri
40. Mohamad PourAbdollah
41. Morteza Eslahchi
42. Morteza khedmatloo
43. Soroush Sabet
44. Soroush Dashtestani

These students have been arrested for participating in a peaceful demonstration to commemorate December 7 (16th Azar Solar calendar) the National Students Day in Iran. Students in Iran have been commemorating this day since 1953 where three students were killed at the hands of the previous monarchist regime.

Apart from calling for freedom and equality, this year with the looming threat of US war against Iran, the Student activists had opted for a call to end the treat of the war and war mongering of the US and The Islamic Republic as one of the theme of their rallies.

The heavy-handed approach of the security forces in dealing with the students defies every international laws and protocols on individual and civil rights. The news and information reaching outside Iran indicate that these students have been subjected to mistreatment and torture. The arbitrary nature of their arrests and the fact that no formal charges have been lodged against the students and the fact that the families and the lawyers of the students have been prevented from any contacts with them are all serious causes for concern.

We call on Amnesty international and other human rights institutions to intervene and act to put pressure on the Iranian authorities to release the detained students. We call on Amnesty International to take on the case of these students, as they are prisoners of conscience, and intervene to secure the:


- The immediate release of all jailed students in Iran.
- The immediate halt to mental and physical tortures of the jailed students.
- Access to be granted to the lawyers to meet the students.
- Access to be given to the families of the jailed students to meet with their loved ones.


Furthermore we call on Amnesty international to dispatch a delegation to Iran to co-ordinate and oversee the above activities alongside the families and lawyers of the jailed students.



Campaign to Defend the Freedom and Equality Seeking Students in Iran
January 2008