Opposition leader lauds role of Iranian students in reform movement

Iranian opposition leader, Mehdi Karroubi

Mehdi Karroubi says the presence of Iranian students in the political scene is a “thorn in the eyes of the nation’s ill-wishers.”

Tagheer website reports that in a statement at the threshold of National Student Day, the opposition leader says the “hope and resistance” of the students in Iranian universities cause the “retreat of the forces seeking totalitarianism and monopoly in power.”

Karroubi adds that “those who seek to monopolize power” first “engineered the presidential elections of last year and then went after the arena of knowledge and science to prevent students from questioning their actions.”

He maintains that the role of the student movement as one of the “reference groups” in reformist movement is well-established in Iran. He thus urged the students to take on the burden of spreading awareness throughout the general public at this time which according to the opposition leader “the Iranian society is in dire need of throwing light upon the truth and disseminating information.”

The universities have been hit hard in the aftermath of the protests to the disputed victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009. In an attempt to quell the protests, the authorities have arrested and sentenced ten of students while many more have been expelled or suspended from university.

In the most recent move against Iranian students, last week, Nasim Soltanbeigui, an Allameh Tabatabai student was sentenced to six years in prison for the charge of “activities against national security and propaganda against the regime.”

Mojtaba Hashemi, a Tehran University student was sentenced to one year in prison for “activities against national security.” He is also handed a sentence of 74 lashes for “disturbing public order” and a fine for “insulting the president.”