As Mahsa Amini protest anniversary approaches, Iran’s crackdown on student activists intensifies
08 August, 2023
An Iranian journalist warned that the government’s intensified crackdown on activists was aimed at suppressing any potential resurgence of protests as the anniversary of the 2022 anti-establishment nationwide demonstrations approaches.
Since last September, when Iran experienced widespread anti-establishment protests, at least 155 university students have been suspended from their studies, and two others have been expelled from universities, an Iranian rights group has revealed.
The Committee for Follow-Up on the Situation of Detainees, a human rights group focused on dissidents arrested since last September, disclosed these figures on Monday, 7 August, adding that the dismissed students have been identified as Shahyar Shams from the Islamic Azad University and Alireza Baradaran Shoraka, a student at Amirkabir University of Technology.
The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the Islamic morality police on 16 September 2022, sparked nationwide demonstrations in Iran, with student activists at the forefront, with thousands of students arrested by the security forces.