Silenced, Expelled, Imprisoned Repression of Students and Academics in Iran
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SILENCED, EXPELLED, IMPRISONED REPRESSION OF STUDENTS AND ACADEMICS IN IRAN Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 3 million supporters, members and activists in more than 150 countries and territories who campaign to end grave abuses of human rights. Our vision is for every person to enjoy all the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards. We are independent of any government, political ideology, economic interest or religion and are funded mainly by our membership and public donations. First published in June 2014 by Amnesty International Ltd Peter Benenson House 1 Easton Street London WC1X 0DW United Kingdom ©Amnesty International 2014 Index: MDE 13/015/2014 English Original language: English Printed by Amnesty International, International Secretariat, United Kingdom All rights reserved. This publication is copyright, but may be reproduced by any method without fee for advocacy, campaigning and teaching purposes, but not for resale. The copyright holders request that all such use be registered with them for impact assessment purposes. For copying in any other circumstances, or for reuse in other publications, or for translation or adaptation, prior written permission must be obtained from the publishers, and a fee may be payable. To request permission, or for any other inquiries, please contact [email protected] Cover photo: Iranian high school students sit for their university entrance examination in Tehran on June 25, 2009. Many students and university lecturers were arrested and jailed following mass protests against the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad earlier that month. ©MONA HOOBEHFEKR/AFP/Getty Images amnesty.org CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 5 2. BACKGROUND ....................................................................................................... 11 The Islamic Revolution to the election of Mohammad Khatami, 1979-1997 .................. 11 Mohammad Khatami’s era, 1997- 2005 .................................................................... 13 3. HIGHER EDUCATION IN IRAN ................................................................................. 15 Administration of higher education ............................................................................ 15 Admission of students .............................................................................................. 17 Rules and discipline ................................................................................................ 17 Mechanisms of repression ........................................................................................ 19 4. DISCRIMINATION BASED ON GENDER AND RELIGION ............................................. 20 Discrimination on grounds of gender .......................................................................... 20 Limiting women’s access to higher education ............................................................. 22 Educational apartheid – keeping the sexes apart ......................................................... 25 Discrimination based on religious belief or affiliation ................................................... 26 5. ACADEMIC FREEDOM UNDER ATTACK .................................................................... 30 Resurgent “Islamicization” ....................................................................................... 35 Targeting student activists: “starring”, suspension and expulsion .................................. 39 Arrests, torture and imprisonment ............................................................................. 44 Flogging ................................................................................................................. 63 Imprisonment of academics ...................................................................................... 64 Academic purges ..................................................................................................... 69 6. THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK ...................................................................................... 76 International law ..................................................................................................... 76 Iranian law ............................................................................................................. 83 7. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................ 87 Recommendations ................................................................................................... 87 To the Iranian authorities ......................................................................................... 87 To the international community ................................................................................ 91 Silenced, expelled, imprisoned 5 Repression of students and academics in Iran 1. INTRODUCTION “Universities are the voice of the people and that is why they try to silence them.” 1 A former student at Amir Kabir University in Tehran and political prisoner, speaking from exile, March 2013 At his inauguration in August 2013, Iran’s newly elected president, Hassan Rouhani, a self- described moderate, inherited a country in crisis. The eight-year presidency of his predecessor, the two-term President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had seen a further deterioration in human rights. Iran had become increasingly isolated diplomatically due to western and Arab suspicion over its nuclear ambitions, and weakened economically by deep biting international trade and financial sanctions. During his successful election campaign and in his first speeches following his inauguration, President Rouhani appeared at pains to distance himself from his predecessor, and the policies and rhetoric of the former President. He appeared intent on offering a more conciliatory and constructive approach to policy-making and relationship-building, at home and internationally, when pursuing the perceived political, strategic and economic interests of Iran and its 78 million people. It was a recognition of the popular mood for change and an end to Iran’s international isolation that his election victory reflected, and appeared to open a prospective new, more promising chapter in Iran’s international relations. Within months, the interim agreement concluded in Geneva between President Rouhani’s government and the USA and other permanent member states of the UN Security Council plus Germany in November 2013, under which Iran committed to freeze aspects of its nuclear programme in return for temporary and reversible sanction reliefs. Yet, within Iran itself, the limits of the new President’s powers and freedom of action were also made manifest by conservative members of the parliament, who vetoed the appointment of several of President Rouhani’s nominees to head government ministries, including his proposed candidate for Minister of Science, Research and Technology (hereafter Minister of Science), who would have the responsibility for overseeing the operation of Iran’s universities. As that early setback showed, despite President Rouhani’s popular mandate, Iran’s clerically-dominated politico- religious establishment, headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and hardliners within its security and judicial sectors, retain enormous power and influence and, to a large extent, continue to have the determining voice on the nature and pace of change in Iran. The sentencing of student activist Maryam Shafi’ Pour to a seven year prison term in March 2014 after a Revolutionary Court convicted her of charges including “spreading propaganda against the system” provided further evidence of the continuing reach and power intolerance of criticism of the authorities. Since Hassan Rouhani’s election, most media and diplomatic attention has focused on the development of international negotiations relating to Iran’s nuclear programme and their Index: MDE 13/015/2014 Amnesty International June 2014 6 Silenced, expelled, imprisoned Repression of students and academics in Iran progress. As yet, it still remains uncertain whether, and to what extent, the Rouhani presidency will see a significant reduction in tension and relaxation of the international trade, financial and other sanctions that have impacted Iran’s economy, reduced living standards and Iranians’ access to imported goods. Important though these issues are, however, they should not overshadow other problems that President Rouhani must confront if his government is to overcome the legacy of social, political and economic malaise under President Ahmadinejad and address the aspirations of its burgeoning population, more than half of which is aged under 24, with more than one quarter aged under 15.2One of the most pressing of these challenges is to be found in Iran’s universities and other institutions of higher education, including medical schools, institutes of technology and community colleges. These institutions have a student population that numbers several million annually, with women reportedly comprising around half or a little more than half, yet the higher education sector no longer enjoys any meaningful degree of academic freedom. Under President Ahmadinejad, any role that the universities had managed to retain as centres of independent thought and critical analysis, or to re-establish after the so-called Cultural Revolution of the early 1980s, was