Shabtabnews In this dark night, I have lost my way – Arise from a corner, oh you the star of guidance.
RFL/RE – Almost a dozen Iranian university professors have been fired from their jobs at Ferdowsi University in the northeastern city of Mashhad following their support for students in nationwide protests over the death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody.
The Union Council of Iranian Students said 11 professors were dismissed for “accompanying, supporting, and defending the rights of students.”
The council, which did not reveal the names of the professors, said six were from the faculty of literature, three from the faculty of law and political science, and one each from the mathematics and economics faculties.
Anger over the 22-year-old Amini’s death on September 16 has prompted thousands of Iranians to take to the streets to demand more freedoms and women’s rights.
Numerous protests have been held at universities, particularly in Tehran, where many students have refused to attend class. Protesting students have chanted “Woman, life, freedom” and “Death to the dictator” at the rallies. Some female students have removed and burned their head scarves.
In most of the protests, students have asked professors to support them, and some university professors and lecturers have expressed solidarity with the protesters.
Universities and students have long been at the forefront of the struggle for greater social and political freedoms in Iran. In 1999, students protested the closure of a reformist daily, prompting a brutal raid on the dorms of Tehran University that left one student dead.
Over the years, the authorities have arrested student activists and leaders, sentencing them to prison and banning them from studying.
The activist HRANA news agency said that as of January 26 at least 700 university students had been arrested during the recent unrest.
Many have faced sentences such as imprisonment, flogging, and dozens of students have been expelled from universities or suspended from their studies, as security forces try to stifle widespread dissent.
