Shabtabnews In this dark night, I have lost my way – Arise from a corner, oh you the star of guidance.
RFL/RE – The Iranian Student Guild Councils says several students protesting against the dress code at Tehran’s Art University were beaten by school security agents, leaving some in “critical” condition.
The students had been staging a sit-in at the university early in the morning on June 15 to protest against the mandatory hijab policy at the National Garden campus of the university.
“Despite the constant pressure and threats of security, the students are still in the university and students are not allowed to leave,” the councils said on their Telegram channel.
Prior to the assault, university security reportedly prevented the delivery of food and water to the students while also blocking access to washrooms. There were also reports of threats to the students that “plainclothes officers” would be allowed to enter if the sit-in continued.
The Art University has made several attempts to make the Maghna’eh — a black cloth covering their head, forehead, chin, and chest — mandatory for students over the past decade, but the move has been met with resistance from students. The resentment over the policy has grown after months of unrest — led by students and women around Iran — sparked by the death in September of Mahsa Amini while in police custody over a head-scarf violation.
Following recent nationwide protests, pressure has increased on universities across the country to enforce the mandatory hijab policy. The extent of the crackdown on students is such that students are quickly summoned and issued “expulsion” or “suspension from studies” orders for any form of protest action, noncompliance with the dress code, or participation in any form of gathering or protest action.
For instance, Sepideh Rashno, a young woman who was arrested and tortured three months ago for protesting the mandatory hijab following the death of Mahsa Amini, was suspended from Alzahra University for two semesters, including the current one, for “not observing the Islamic dress code.”
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 says at least 700 university students have 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.
