Iran Focus
London, 10 October – The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) writes on October 9 that the Iranian regime has attempted to increase repression in universities in reaction to the publication of the photograph of the NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi in the alumni magazine of Sharif Industrial University.
“…the publishers of (Mrs. Rajavi’s) photo at Sharif University were dealt with,” reported the state-run media and news agencies. Many of the news agencies are affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) and other military and security agencies. They reported, as well, that “all the activities of the alumni’s association on campus have been ordered to be suspended,” the association “has been sealed up”, and “all copies of the said magazine have been collected.”
“Security organs are examining this incident” and “are making the necessary follow ups to deal with the violators legally and through relevant authorities,” they wrote.
Such threats are overreactions, revealing the concern of a regime that relies on repression. Angry statements, like that of Mashreq News, on October 5, “In a strange measure, Sharif University published Maryam Rajavi’s picture in its alumni’s special magazine! While universities admit new students in the beginning of the new academic year, such a conduct can lead to deviatory movements and normalization of such incidents in universities, preparing the grounds for insurgency in the scientific atmosphere of the country.”
Emotions intensify with the approach of the Student Day, December 7. Students of Sharif Industrial University have been staging protests with the motto of “University revenues come from our payments for food and dormitory.”
The Universities’ Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran “hails all the freedom-loving students of Iran and its honorable colleagues who have said NO to the Iranian regime’s repression. The Universities’ Committee lauds the students of Sharif Industrial University who have been staging protests in recent days. It calls on all Iranian students and faculty of universities to demonstrate their solidarity and unity against stepped up repression and security threats against the Alumni Association of Sharif University by Khamenei-backed repressive organs.”
Further, the NCRI Universities’ Committee urges strong condemnation for this repressive clampdown, calling on the student and university syndicates and unions, as well as scientific centers in various countries, and advocates of human rights and freedom of speech to denounce the suppression against universities and educational centers in Iran, particularly against the Alumni Association of Sharif Industrial University of Iran.
Also on October 8 following Iran’s angry reaction to the appearance of Maryam Rajavi’s Alumni Photo in the Journal of the Sharif University of Technology, where she was praised as one of the former students and the honors of this university, the regime began to collect signatures on a petition to impeach the Minister of Science, according to the government sources.
Basij Press Club reported on October 5, that “the impeachment of the Minister of Science is due to the released photo of Maryam Rajavi in the publication of Sharif University.”
In an interview with the reporter of Parliament, Seyed Naser Mousavi Largani, representative of Falavarjan City, spoke about a petition for impeaching the Minister of Science, Mohammad Farhadi. He said that the impeachment process began when the photo of Maryam Rajavi was published in the weekly Alumni Journal of the Sharif University of Technology.
According to the NCRI’s report, “… the Member of Parliament’s economic commission stated that the MPs staged an intense protest in the open session and admonished to the print of the photo. Mousavi Largani said that PMOI has always stood against Iran’s regime and Massoud Rajavi was the heart of this organization and his practices were established against Iran’s regime. Therefore, the publication of the photo was a very big mistake.”
A letter signed by 33 Majlis deputies was read out in an official parliamentary session. It sent a written warning to the executive authorities. The NCRI called out this hysterical reaction to the photos of Maryam Rajavi in the Journal of the Sharif University of Technology. Habib Mohammad Nejad, MP, in an interview with the Revolutionary Guards Press on Wednesday October 5, 2016, stated that, ”we do not yet know about the details of the picture which was printed in the Alumni Journal of the Sharif University of Technology. Nevertheless, if the image was published deliberately, we will prosecute the doers firmly.”
Also on October 5, 2016, Raja News, affiliated with the regime, reported that “following the photo release of Maryam Rajavi, the press, MPs and security organizations reacted intensely. The Alumni association of the Sharif University of Technology was closed and the security institutions are investigating the matter.”
The Alumni Association had already published Maryam Rajavi’s Photo in the Journal in February 2015. At that time, no reaction was made by the university authorities, as the Ministry of Science pursued a tolerance approach in the eleventh government.
