The Chronicle: Tehran Students Say Professor Killed in Bombing Was Opponent of Regime
A University of Tehran professor who was killed in a bomb blast outside his home in the Iranian capital this morning was an outspoken supporter of the opposition politician Mir Hossein Moussavi who had encouraged students in their recent antigovernment protests, a student at the university said in an e-mail message from Tehran.
Washington Post: Iran steps up its crackdown on student protesters
MILITIAMEN STORM COLLEGE
‘From now on, we will show no mercy’
TEHRAN — Iran intensified its crackdown on demonstrators Tuesday as thousands of pro-government militiamen stormed the grounds of the country’s most prominent university and assaulted students who had gathered in protest.
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Posted in Protests
Tagged Iran, Protests, Students, U of Tehran
The New York Times: Iranian-American Faces New Spying Charge
TORONTO — An Iranian-American scholar, Kian Tajbakhsh, already serving a 15-year prison sentence for spying, is facing a new charge of spying, a family member said Wednesday.
Mr. Tajbakhsh told his wife during a visit at Evin prison in Tehran that he was taken before the Revolutionary Court on Monday, where a judge read new charges against him of “spying for the George Soros foundation,” a reference to the Open Society Institute, a pro-democracy group founded by Mr. Soros, a prominent financier and philanthropist. The accusation was brought by the intelligence section of the Revolutionary Guards, said the family member, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of complicating the case.
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Posted in Faculty
Tagged espionage, Iran, Legal issues
Asia News: Police and basiji crack down hard on opposition demonstrators
Reports indicate some deaths and dozens of arrests. Protests take place in Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan and Mashhad. Pasdarn go on red alert to suppress unrest. Today is the 30th anniversary of the takeover of US Embassy and the seizure of 52 hostages.
Tehran (AsiaNews) – Iran’s infamous basiji attacked opposition demonstrators today. Tear gas was used, shots fired, as the regime’s vigilantes used stick and knives to subdue and arrest protesters. Sympathisers of ex presidential election candidate Mir Hussein Moussavi and security forces clashed in the capital, scene this summer of a bloody crackdown against the green wave that swelled against President Ahmadinejad after his contested re-election. Today is the 30th anniversary of the seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran, one of the most dramatic and significant episodes that marked Iran’s Islamic Revolution.
AP: Iraq suspends university for politics
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s prime minister suspended classes and banned political activities at one of Baghdad’s leading universities following student protests on campus, a government spokesman said Wednesday.
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Posted in Government, Politics
Tagged Government, Iran, Politics, Protests, university closures
The New York Times: Authorities in Iran Arrest 18 Students
Iranian authorities arrested 18 student leaders in Tehran on Friday in a crackdown on demonstrations, which flared up at two universities as classes resumed this week.
The New York Times: Purge of Iranian Universities Is Feared
CAIRO — As Iran’s universities prepare to start classes this month, there is growing concern within the academic community that the government will purge political and social science departments of professors and curriculums deemed “un-Islamic,” according to academics and political analysts inside and outside Iran.
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Posted in Academic freedom
Tagged Academic freedom, Faculty, Iran, Islam, Politics
World University News: IRAN: Iranian-American academic detained in Tehran
On 9 July 2009 Dr Kian Tajbakhsh, a prominent Iranian-American social scientist, was arrested at his home by Tehran authorities. The agents did not provide any legal justification for the arrest and took him to an undisclosed location.
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Posted in Government
Tagged detentions, Iran
The Chronicle News Blog: Protests Flare Outside Iran’s U. of Tehran After Friday Sermon
Police officers clashed with protesters in the streets outside the University of Tehran today after the weekly prayer sermon was delivered there by the former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
AP: Iranian-American academic detained in Tehran
NEW YORK (AP) — An Iranian-American scholar whom Iran once accused of fomenting political unrest has been arrested by authorities there for the second time in two years, his family said Friday.
Security forces arrested Kian Tajbakhsh late Thursday, a family member told The Associated Press. The relative was in contact with Tajbakhsh’s wife, who witnessed the arrest in Tehran.
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Posted in Faculty, Free speech, Government
Tagged Faculty, Free speech, Iran, political unrest, professors detained
AFP: French woman detained on spy charges in Iran: ministry
PARIS (AFP) — A French woman was detained in Iran last week on spying charges, France’s foreign ministry said Monday, demanding her release.
“France firmly condemns the July 1 arrest and detention by Iran of a French academic,” the ministry said in a statement, without revealing the name of the woman or the university she was linked to.
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Posted in Government
Inside Higher Ed: 2 Scholarly Groups Issue Statements on Iranian Crackdown
Two scholarly associations last week issued statements about the Iranian government’s crackdown on students and professors at the nation’s universities. The Middle East Studies Association sent a letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressing “serious concern over the murders, mass arrests, brutal beatings, and widespread harassment of Iranian university students.” A statement from the Executive Council of the Modern Language Association said: “Recognizing with alarm the implications for freedom of thought and expression and in the light of its particular responsibility for the humanities in higher education, the Modern Language Association deplores the attacks on Iranian universities, which endanger students, faculty members, and staff members. We express our hope that the government of Iran will refrain from using violence or other repressive measures in these revered centers of learning and teaching.”
World University News: IRAN: Post-election violence spreads to universities
Violence spread from Tehran to the outer provinces and several universities reported clashes between students and security forces, according to UPI. Chancellor of Shiraz University, Mohammad Hadi Sadeghi, resigned from his post last Wednesday after riot police stormed a library and fired tear gas inside.
AP: Mousavi Web site: 70 professors detained in Iran
Seventy university professors were detained in Iran in a widening government crackdown on protesters, according to a Web site affiliated with Iran’s key opposition figure, Mir Hossein Mousavi, who says he was robbed of victory in a rigged presidential election.
The professors were detained on Wednesday, immediately after meeting with Mousavi, said the Kalemeh site, which is affiliated with the opposition leader. The report said it is not clear where the detainees were taken.
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Posted in Protests
Tagged Government, Iran, professors detained, Protests
The Chronicle: Slide show: Assault on the U of Tehran
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Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged assualts, Government, Iran, Protests, U of Tehran
The Chronicle: Universities and Students Are at Heart of Continuing Protests in Iran
Protesters continued to throng the streets of Tehran on Tuesday, in the second day of rallies and demonstrations that have erupted in the wake of last Friday’s disputed presidential election. The actions have been called the country’s biggest mass demonstrations since the 1979 Islamic revolution, and, as in that movement, university students are at the heart of much of the action.
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