Call for indepndent probe into assassination of Iranian professor

Massoud Ali-Mohammadi

Over 100 academics from universities all across the world have condemned the assassination of physics lecturer, Massoud Ali-Mohammadi in Tehran and called for an independent investigation into his death.

Massoud Ali-Mohammadi was killed on January 12, 2010 when a booby-trapped motorcycle exploded near his home. Islamic Republic authorities claimed he was a nuclear scientist and accused the US and Israel of engineering his death.

However, Ali-Mohammadi’s friends and students maintain he was a “Green Professor” that is he belonged to the political movement which has challenged the government since June presidential elections with repeated protests and mass demonstrations. His circle of friends and associates maintain that he supported MirHosein Mousavi in the elections.

The academics and university administrators’ open letter maintains that since the Islamic Republic government has been involved in “state terrorism,” they demand an “immediate and independent” investigation into the assassination of Professor Ali-Mohammadi.

They also express deep concern over the intensified “arrest, imprisonment and torture of many students and professors” in Iran and go on to state that in the past seven months, Iranian security forces have attacked students’ dorms and campuses thus stifling university activity.

The letter also condemns the disciplinary sentences handed to students banning them from university services and even from continuing their education.

The signatories urge all human rights organizations around the world to condemn “these acts of state violence and violations of human rights by the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Janet Afary, Noam Chomsky, Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak, Mehrdad Mashyekhi and Ramin Jahanbegloo are amongst the numerous signatories of the letter.

Since the start of the new university term last September, the government has used various tactics to discourage students from participating in demonstrations and carrying on the torch of election protests.

Numerous students have been arrested and beaten in campuses. The fates of some of these detainees are still unknown while others have received heavy prison terms. In addition, scores of students have been banned from continuing their education.