Translator’s note: The mass arrests of opposition activists during and after the December 27, 2009 protests, have included police attacks on university campuses in Tehran and Mashhad. In response, students at these universities have boycotted classes. Below are excerpts from a statement issued by the Office for the Consolidation of Unity, Iran’s largest student organization. A detailed article about the students currently in detention or serving prison terms is available in Persian on the website of Amir Kabir University Students(www.autnews.de/node/5688). For background information in English, see Farnaz Fassihi’s “Regime Wages a Quiet War on ‘Star Students’ of Iran” in the Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126222013953111071.html)
Continue reading Statement by the Office for the Consolidation of Unity on the Large-Scale Arrests of University Students in Iran
Statement by Homosexual Students at Iran’s Universities
Translator’s note: The formation of the new organization, “Homosexual Students at Iran’s Universities” is a courageous act. Below are large excerpts from a statement which this organization issued on the occasion of Students’ Day. For more information about queer organizing in Iran, please see “Twelve Men Face Execution for Sodomy in Iran” by Doug Ireland, published in Gay City News (http://gaycitynews.com/articles/2009/12/11/gay_city_news/news/doc4b2109624f65c652502853.txt). Please also contact Hossein Alizadeh, Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator at International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (www.iglhrc.org).
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Majid Tavakoli Becomes a Symbol of a Growing Student Movement
Majid Tavakoli, an Iranian student leader who had been imprisoned twice for his defense of human rights, was violently arrested on December 7 after he gave a speech at a gathering of students at Amir Kabir University (Tehran) to commemorate Students’ Day. Three years earlier in December 2006, he had been among students who protested Ahmadinejad’s speech at Amir Kabir University and called him “ a source of prejudice and corruption.” This year, Tavakoli was speaking to Amir Kabir students in the midst of student demonstrations throughout the country. Below are excerpts from two articles which defend Tavakoli and address the meaning of the Iranian government’s claim that he was arrested while dressed in a woman’s hijab. The first article is by Mujtaba Saminejad, a journalist, human rights activist and blogger. The second is by Shakiba Shaker Hosseini, a young feminist activist.
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Socialists Inside Iran Differ on the Green Movement
Recently, Alborz, an Iran-based site devoted to a critique of political economy, has published articles which represent differing views among socialists inside Iran concerning the future of the Green Movement. Below are excerpts from two articles which represent some of these differing views.
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Put Human Rights Defense on Par with Nuclear Safety Concerns, says Feminist Attorney, Shadi Sadr
On November 9, 2009, Shadi Sadr, a young feminist attorney and journalist received the “Dutch Human Rights Defenders Tulip” for her work in Iran. In her acceptance speech she wrote: “As long as the issue of human rights is not raised at least in a parallel way to the nuclear issue at all levels of political and economic negotiations with the Iranian government, and sanctions and other possible guarantees of action do not include both areas, one cannot accept that some real effort has been made to stop the violation of the rights of Iranian citizens.” The English translation of her speech is reprinted below. For more information on Shadi Sadr and for a translation of her article on the rapes of young women protesters imprisoned after the forged June 2009 election, see http://iranianvoicesintranslation.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html
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