{"id":1283,"date":"2018-07-17T15:50:42","date_gmt":"2018-07-17T15:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=1283"},"modified":"2018-07-18T15:55:00","modified_gmt":"2018-07-18T15:55:00","slug":"rouhani-facing-widespread-outrage-as-student-protesters-remain-behind-bars-and-receive-harsh-sentences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=1283","title":{"rendered":"Rouhani Facing Widespread Outrage as Student Protesters Remain Behind Bars and Receive Harsh Sentences\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span> 120 Academics in Iran Call on Rouhani to Immediately Suspend Judicial Cases against More than 150 Students<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

July 17, 2018\u2014In a stark display of societal outrage in Iran over President Hassan Rouhani\u2019s complicity in rights violations, 120 academics from universities across Iran, some of whom are also current or former lawmakers and cabinet members, have called on the president to order the immediate suspension of the judicial cases against more than 150 students who are still in detention for their participation in the\u00a0December 2017 \u2013 January 2018 protests.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The vast majority of the students were arrested by Rouhani\u2019s Ministry of Intelligence, which under his watch has become one of Iran\u2019s major human rights violators.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) urges the authorities in Iran to immediately release all of the students and others arrested for the peaceful expression of dissent, and calls on President Rouhani to use his authority over the Ministry of Intelligence to rein in its members and stop the abuses being routinely committed by this body.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRouhani says people are free to protest, but over 150 students have been behind bars in Iran for over six months for doing just that\u2014and most of them were arrested by his Intelligence Ministry,\u201d said Hadi Ghaemi, CHRI executive director.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRouhani\u2019s silence at the continued detention of these students betrays the hypocrisy of his words,\u201d Ghaemi added.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sharahi\u2019s execution was the fourth carried out against a juvenile offender in the country since January 2018. Dozens of others of people who were sentenced as juveniles remain on death row.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the letter, the academics urged Rouhani \u201cto take steps in support of students and carry out your duties and pledges to safeguard people\u2019s rights and defend students\u2019 space to criticize.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The letter continued, \u201cGiven that your government\u2019s Intelligence Ministry is responsible for arresting many of the students, and in accordance with your duties as the chairman of the Supreme National Security Council, we urge you to immediately issue an order to completely suspend the judicial cases against the students.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Iranian Member of Parliament Parvaneh Salahshouri, a reformist lawmaker, said in an\u00a0interview\u00a0with the semi-official Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) on July 10, 2018, \u201cA list has been put together of the students detained in the December 2017 incidents and they number more than 150.\u201d She told ILNA that 17 students had so far been sentenced to prison terms.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The latest\u00a0sentences were issued\u00a0on July 10 as the Appeals Court in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan Province, upheld a two-year sentence against Roya Saghiri and a six-month prison term for Ali Ghadiri.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a\u00a0joint statement\u00a0published in July 2018, more than 60 student organizations from universities across Iran sharply\u00a0criticized\u00a0President Rouhani for the crackdown on students led by his Intelligence Ministry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Rouhani\u2019s \u2018moderate\u2019 government has not only failed to defend the students but evidently his Intelligence Ministry is involved in their arrest and prosecution,\u201d said the student organizations.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Students Day, December 2, 2017, Rouhani\u00a0said, \u201cYou have the right to criticize the government and the president. This is the right of all people. You cannot have a university without criticism. We must speak, criticize and find solutions,\u201d and on December 2017, as nationwide protests against the government\u2019s economic policies and political oppression erupted in the country, Rouhani\u00a0said, \u201cAccording to the constitution and citizens\u2019 rights, people are free to express their criticism and protest.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The academics\u2019\u00a0open letter\u00a0to Rouhani, published on July 16, 2018, is re-printed here in its entirety:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In recent months, especially since the protests in the month of Dey (December 22, 2017 \u2013 January 20, 2018), the security forces have arrested groups of students throughout the country. These arrests, and the reported heavy sentences against the students, have prompted us to remind you, as President and Chairman of the Supreme National Security Council, of a number of points you repeatedly declared in front of students in universities last year during your presidential campaign speeches \u2014 speeches that also inspired many of our colleagues to support your candidacy.<\/span><\/p>\n

It appears that most of the detained students have participated in previous legal activities and may have criticized the performance of your government regarding universities. This matter has raised suspicions that some are trying to silence dissent in universities, which would undoubtedly be harmful to the future of the country.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore, as the country\u2019s university academics, we once again declare that we want the universities to be \u2018safe but not secure\u2019 and urge you to take steps in support of students and carry out your duties and pledges to safeguard people\u2019s rights and defend students\u2019 space to criticize.<\/span><\/p>\n

Given that your government\u2019s Intelligence Ministry is responsible for arresting many of the students, and in accordance with your duties as the chairman of the Supreme National Security Council, we urge you to immediately issue an order to completely suspend the judicial cases against the students.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For interviews, contact:<\/span>
\nHadi Ghaemi<\/span>
\n+1-917-669-5996<\/span>
\nhadighaemi@iranhumanrights.org<\/span><\/p>\n

Visit our website:\u00a0www.iranhumanrights.org<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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July 17, 2018\u2014In a stark display of societal outrage in Iran over President Hassan Rouhani\u2019s complicity in rights violations, 120 academics from universities across Iran, some of whom are also<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[401,113],"class_list":["post-1283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights","tag-a","tag-hassan-rouhani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1283"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1284,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1283\/revisions\/1284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}