Widespread arrest of students and protesters

Government crackdown continues on protesters of Iran’s June presidential election that was allegedly rigged to secure Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election. Eighty students from Mashad Universities have been detained by Iranian security and intelligence forces and bail for some of them is set at 1 billion rials ($100, 000).

According to Amir Kabir Newsletter, following the attack of pro-government forces on students at the University of Mashad last week, over 250 students were arrested.

One of the released students told the Newsletter that the detainees are under severe conditions and are being beaten by their investigators.

Students at the Open Universities of Ferdowsi, Khayyam and Sajjad of Mashad have announced that they will go on strike by boycotting end of term exams should the government persist in detaining their classmates.

In other universities of the country protesting students have refrained from attending term exams and despite threats from officials, over 40 exams at Amir Kabir University have been cancelled in the past three days.

Advar news also reports that 150 students in Kerman have been summoned by the university disciplinary committee in connection with protests held on November 4, December 7 and the memorial services held after the death of reformist cleric, Ayatollah Montazeri, last month.

Advar news reports that about 50 students have been “banned from university classes and services for a term.”

According to Advar news, executive member of the student organization Unity Consolidation Bureau, Morteza Samiari was arrested in Tehran. Three other executive members, Mehdi Arabshahi, Bahareh Hedayat and Milad Asadi were also arrested earlier.

According to Jaras website statistics, in the last few weeks, 12 members of reformist organization Nehzat-e Azadi (Freedom Front) and their kin, 10 aides to opposition leader MirHosein Mousavi, three aides to opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi, 17 journalists, 7 members of Human Rights Reporters Committee, 6 members of reformist group, Islamic Iran Participation Front, four members of the reformist party, National Front, 12 Baha’is and 9 women’s and human rights activists were arrested.