New wave of arrests among students in Iran

Students meet during the protests against the rigged presidential elections in June. 

Scores of Iranian students have been arbitrarily arrested and prosecuted in recent days, as authorities apparently seek to stifle protests expected on 7 December, National Student Day, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported today. Detentions of students have occurred throughout Iran. The Campaign has received information of such detentions in Isfahan, Babol, Chaharmahal-o-Bakhtiari, Shiraz, Ilam, Kermanshah, Ghazvin, and in Tehran in Azad University, Tehran University, Amirkabir and Elm-o-Sanaat.
“In order to silence the student movement, a wholesale crackdown on Iranian students is underway, which not only violates their rights, but also disrupts their studies and the lives of their families,” stated Hadi Ghaemi, a spokesperson for the Campaign.
Little or no information has been disclosed by the authorities about students in detention. In some cases, students have been expelled from their universities following their arrests, or subjected to university disciplinary procedures. Some have been sentenced to prison terms and lashings. In other cases, the detainees have been arrested in connection with their participation in peaceful demonstrations.
Students in general face restrictions on the freedom of expression in teh ilamic republic of Iran, but the situation has worsened under Ahmadinejad.