(15 January 2009) – The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran reported that Hamdollah Namjou and Alma Ranjbar students at Shiraz University were arrested at the Intelligence Office in Shiraz on 14 and 15 January , respectively, after being summoned on 5 January. Another student, Younes Mirhosseini, received a summons to the Intelligence Office in Shiraz last week.

According to sources at the University, other students including Esmael Jalilvand and Younes Mirhosseini have repeatedly received phone calls from the Intelligence Office in Shiraz, and their families are being threatened in telephone calls to send their children to the Intelligence Office. Out of 15 students who were summoned, 11 have been detained and 7are still in detention. Families of the detained have been given no information on their children’s health or whereabouts.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has repeatedly appealed to the Iranian authorities to end the persecution and prosecution of students and to allow them to pursue their courses of study without infringement of their academic freedom and basic rights.

Younes Mirhosseini, the student mentioned above who has been summoned, is a human rights major at Shiraz University. He was detained on 5 December 2007 because of his participation in an assembly commemorating National Student Day. He was released after 14 days, but was later prosecuted. A few days before his summons to the Intelligence Office, he received a call informing him that the court had issued the verdict and sentenced him to one-year in prison. This sentence was subsequently suspended. After two days, he received a written verdict in which he was sentenced to three years prison. He now faces new summons and a potentially longer sentence. I am sorry but I do not understand this paragraph. )It shows that how the court is under the intelligence control , not only he received the call about his prosecution just these days but also, his sentence and the term of prison were changed during two days)

The Campaign continues to call on the Iranian government to cease its targeting of university students and to uphold international standards of academic freedom for students throughout Iran.

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For more information about the recent events at Shiraz University visit the following links:

Six More Shiraz University Students Detained

Release Detainees and Stop Persecution of Students at Shiraz University