Friday, May 18, 2007

Condemnation of Amir Kabir University arrests by CPJ


The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ): The CPJ condemns the recent arrests of four Iranian student editors of Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran following the publication of newsletters carrying articles deemed insulting to Islam. The students say they had no involvement in the publications, calling them a fraud designed to disrupt student elections. All of the university’s student publications were nonetheless banned by the school administration, according to online reports... The four arrested editors issued a statement May 3 saying that the newsletters fraudulently used the names and logos of their publications, according to AUTNews. The editors claimed that student members of the Basij—a militia affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, an elite unit under the supreme leader’s control—reproduced the names and logos in an attempt to disrupt the elections to the Islamic Student Association, AUTNews said. Immediately following distribution of the newsletters, the Basij attacked the publications and their activist leaders, according to online sources.


Cityboy has the translation of interview with Bijan Pouryousefi, a committee member of the student activist body ISA, who has been banned from attending any classes for two months which comes at a crucial point in his degree and delays his graduation by a year.


Europe has much more on the situation at Amir Kabir University.


For what it's worth... Amnesty International recommends this action:

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Persian, Arabic, English or your own language:- expressing concern for the safety of the six students (please name them);- asking to be informed of the reasons for their arrest, including any charges against them, which should be made public and communicated to the students and their lawyers without delay;- calling for their immediate release if they are not to be charged with a recognizably criminal offence; - calling for them to be granted immediate and unconditional access to their lawyers, family members, and any medical treatment they may require;- seeking assurances that they not being tortured or ill-treated in detention. For more info. click here.
Amnesty International: Fear of torture and ill-treatment IRAN
Bejaz Ahmad Qasabian (m) ]
Moqdad Khalilpour (m) ]
Pooya Mahmoudian (m) ] students at Amir Kabir Polytechnic
Majid Tavakkoli (m) ] in Tehran
Majid Sheikhpour (m) ]
Babak Zamanian (m) ]






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