Discriminatory education policies should end

(23 May 2011) Iranian authorities should stop attacks on the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education and end policies that discriminatorily deprive members of the Baha’i Faith access to higher education, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today. Authorities should immediately release all Baha’is working with the Institute detained in a raid on 21 May 2011, the Campaign added.

According to the Baha’i International Community (BIC), Iranian authorities arrested at least 30 Baha’is in a series of coordinated raids in Tehran, Karaj, Isfahan, and Shiraz, targeting a community initiative to provide higher education to Baha’i students barred from university admission. Diane Ala’i, the BIC representative in Geneva, said that all those arrested in the latest raids were affiliated with the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education. The Institute is an online/correspondence university established in 1987 in response to the government’s policy of depriving Baha’i students of the right to pursue higher education. “The Institute has been a remarkably creative – and entirely non-violent – response to the Iranian government’s on-going effort to stifle the normal human development of the Baha’i community,” said Ms. Ala’i.

“This multi-city coordinated raid on an alternative university demonstrates the sad lengths to which Iranian authorities will go to prevent Baha’is’ academic advancement,” said Hadi Ghaemi, spokesperson for the Campaign. “Not only are Baha’is barred from conventional universities in Iran but the government also seeks to eliminate even community-based efforts that provide higher education.”

Authorities had previously targeted the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education in a series of raids and arrests in 1998, and United Nations institutions have repeatedly appealed for an end to these and other discriminatory practices against members of the Baha’i Faith. But Iranian officials have denied that they partake in religious discrimination in the university admissions process. “Limitations against some of these Baha’i university students have nothing to do with their religious beliefs. This limitation is because they have failed to meet the entrance requirements to the university and the fact that they have been members of an illegal cult with anti-human rights activities,” said Seyed Ali Raeis Sadati, Iran’s deputy Minister of Justice, during Iran’s Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations Human Rights Council in February 2010.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran has previously documented, in its December 2010 report, Punishing Stars, that the Iranian government systematically discriminates against hundreds of Baha’i students, alongside student activists, in higher education admissions and enrollment. Under Iran’s Moral Selection Regulations for University Entrance Applicants, students who enter university are required to profess belief in “Islam or other recognized religions (i.e. Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism).” The Ministry of Education’s admissions committee must therefore effectively bar all Baha’i applicants. Baha’is who are admitted are routinely expelled by university administrations once their faith becomes known.

“Iran’s discrimination against Baha’is in the sphere of education is part of an ongoing policy of religious persecution and a clear violation of its international obligations.” said Ghaemi. “These attacks on the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education must stop and authorities should immediately release Baha’is recently detained.”

Under Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Iran in 1975, “everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion [and] No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.” The Human Rights Committee has added: “article 18 is not limited in its application to traditional religions,” and applies to “newly established” religions and “religious minorities. The Committee also noted: “Policies or practices … restricting access to education … [are] inconsistent with article [18].”

Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which   “recognize(s) the right of everyone to education,” says that, “higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity.” Iran ratified the ICESCR in 1975. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights General Comment No. 13 further states that, “educational institutions and programs have to be accessible to everyone, without discrimination,” especially with regard to “the most vulnerable groups.” In 1993, the Committee specifically raised concern with Iran’s “[p]rohibition of the admission to university of Baha’is.”

“I gave the first request to Zanjan authorities and they said it is not related to them and that I must appeal to Tehran’s Prosecutor’s Office. I went to the office of Mr. Dowlatabadi, but it is not possible to see him. His secretary took my letter and said he would read it, and if the answer is positive he would act on it. But when I went back they said Hamed will not be given leave for now,”  said Mohammad Rouhinejad, regarding his efforts to secure a New Year’s leave for his son.

“Some things are predictable, you can guess whether the request would be approved or not. Experience has shown us that political prisoners will not be allowed leave; this is why I was not waiting for a positive answer either,” said Rouhinejad, who no longer holds hope for his son’s leave or release from prison.

“Last week I took four of his shots for him to use. I constantly travel to Zahjan from Tehran, and take his shots so his disease will not become acute. But his eye condition is the same as before. One of his eyes has no sight and his other eye has about 30 percent vision; however he can do his daily chores. Currently his disease is stable with the medication he takes,” he told the Campaign.

Asked about the request made to judicial authorities he said, “What an I say?  I’d just like to thank Zanjan’s prison authorities, because they helped with my son’s illness. With the help of Zanjan’s Prison Chief, I was able to get a medical card for Hamed. Now I regularly get his medicines and take them to him. Prison authorities take them and he gets his shots regularly. On the other hand, I am also able to take him to the doctor. About a month ago, I took him to the doctor, and at the end of this month I have to take him again. The doctor believes if Hamed gets his regular injections, his disease will not spread.”

In regards to how human rights organizations may be able to help his son Rouhinejad said, “I know that human rights activists won’t be able to help, because basically no one has the power to confront [the authorities] unless authorities of the Iranian regime stop targeting our children.”

Hamed Rouhinejad, 24, is a philosophy student at Shahid Beheshti University who was arrested on 3 May 2009 on charges of inciting riots. He was first sentenced to death and then to 10 years in prison in exile by an appeals court. He is spending his second Nowruz (New Year) in prison while suffering from multiple sclerosis, loss of his eyesight, and his overall physical strength.

Javdani noted that being banned from teaching by the Ministry of Intelligence has nothing to do with a faculty member’s teaching qualities. “It is interesting that I have not even once talked about political issues of the country in my classrooms and I have been teaching completely within the professional framework. Even the University Security Unit admitted that no cases have been reported in which I had talked about politics in my classes, and in reality, my ban from teaching by the Ministry of Intelligence has been strictly because of writing articles outside of the university and not related to my function and duties in the university,” he said.

Javdani, a member of the Central Council of Khorasan’s Tahkim-e Vahdat Alumni Association (Advar) branch, and former Secretary of Tehran University’s Islamic Association of Democracy Seeking Students, noted that he was once before threatened with dismissal in the middle of last term because of articles he wrote. “Nothing happened last term and it stopped at threats. I wrote some articles before and after the presidential election. There weren’t that many of them, but unfortunately, I was deprived from teaching for this reason. My articles after the election were mostly about the Green Movement and analysis of developments,” he said.

“I pursued the matter with the University’s Security Unit and insisted on my rights, but unfortunately I received no answers. I avoided talking about my teaching ban for two weeks, hoping that the problem would be resolved and that I could return to the University, but it was fruitless. Usually, when these things happen, there is not much room for pursuit. University security units cannot have a role in this and they have to carry out orders given to them from the outside. We report the problem as a form of protest, and usually, we cannot do anything more. The regime has power and it chooses to suppress. The other side who lacks power is suppressed,” Javdani said about his followup regarding the dismissal decision.

Asked whether he has other employment in order to earn his living, he told the Campaign, “I work in different places on a project basis. One of the reasons people are dismissed from their jobs is to put them under economic and financial pressure so that they stop their political activities.”

“I don’t have any verified news, but I have heard that three or four other professors have also been banned from teaching. When the Intelligence Ministry can so easily ban me from teaching by informing the University’s Security Unit, this must have happened to other faculty members too,” Javdani said about whether other faculty members of  Payame Noor University had been treated similarly.

About student arrests at Payame Noor University Javdani said, “So far as I know, lately nobody has been arrested, but last year when  pro-government member of parliament Rasaee came to the University and students objected to his presence, they banned 13 to 15 students of the Technical College for several terms.”

“This is a process every democracy seeking activist knows about, and will pay as the price for reaching democracy. I guess the least price would be losing a job. Many have been imprisoned or have lost their lives. Naturally, this process has to be followed in order to achieve democracy.  The movement further confirms that it would not accept the current process. Circumstances will definitely change, but it’s not clear when.  I hope this happens as soon as possible,” the lecturer, who himself was banned as a graduate student for his student activities at Tehran University, told the Campaign.

Lalipour told the Campaign that he is not aware of the reasons for the visitation ban. “To tell you the truth, we don’t know the reason ourselves, either. Up until last week, we thought the reason for the visitation ban was because they were informing Mahdieh of new charges. We thought the issue has been solved when we were given visitation last week. But this week we went to Evin on visiting day. They even read our names and like the other prisoner families, we went up and waited for Mahdieh to be brought in, but she didn’t come. All the other prisoners came, but Mahdieh didn’t come. We asked and they said that maybe she was left behind. But five minutes later, they came and said that she has a visitation ban,” Lalipour said.

“We asked the prison guard to call the Women’s Ward and find out the reason. He said the prison has no problems with Mahdieh’s visitation, but that according to a letter the Prosecutor’s Office sent to them, she and Bahareh Hedayat are barred from having visitors. I tried to get some news through the families of other prisoners going up to see their relatives, whether any interrogation or any particular entanglement had happened the prior week leading to the two of them being barred from visitation again. But they all said that nothing had happened and everything was as before, meaning that they continue to remain in the Methadone Ward, without telephone or fresh air privileges. It seemed that they had just received the letter from the Prosecutor’s Office, because they called her name for her visitors and we went up, but at the last minute they said that she couldn’t come. We could see the lack of coordination,” added Lalipour.

Lalipour told the Campaign that no one is accountable in Golroo’s case. “When we went to visit her two weeks ago and they told us that Mahdieh is barred from having visitors, I tried to get some information from wherever I could to find out the reason, but no one was accountable except  the Prosecutor’s Office. There was a man there who did not seem to be terribly in the know. He heard what I had to say and said that he would follow up the issue. When they allowed me to go visit her, I was so grateful to him for having solved the issue. Now I don’t know the reason the visitations have been barred again,” he said.

“I believe they want to break these two and hurt them. If any living creature is this isolated, to the point where they have no contact with the outside world or even with other prisoners, they are being abused. They are re-experiencing the same conditions as they had in Ward 209, meaning they have no fresh air breaks, contact, or booth visitation. They have not allowed us to have in-person visitations for the past six months, and we are not even asking for them anymore,” Lalipour said about the pressure and abuse the Golroo and Hedayat have endured.

“Over the past month, we only had one visit. I don’t know what they are trying to achieve with these actions. Do they think that all the country’s problems would be solved if the female prisoners, particularly these two, are isolated? I believe the pressure on female political prisoners is more than on male political prisoners, as they don’t even have fresh air breaks, and Mahdieh and Bahareh are deprived of even booth visits. I really don’t know the reason for it. I have been thinking about this all morning and I can’t seem to come to any conclusions, except that they want to break them with these actions,” said Lalipour.

Mahdieh Golroo was arrested on 2 December 2009 at her home and was sentenced to two years and four months in prison on charges of interviewing with foreign media, acting against national security, and relations with the Mojahedin-e Khalgh Organization (MEK).

Tavakoli’s brother Ali Tavakoli spoke with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran and said he was unaware of Majid’s situation. “Due to a personal problem, I have not been able to travel to Karaj to visit Majid for the last few months. I don’t know what his present situation is. My last telephone contact with him was a long time ago, and at that time he was doing well.  Unfortunately, my mother and father are both elderly and sick, and they don’t have the means to travel to Karaj to visit Majid. I used to go to visit Majid, but now because of my problem I cannot go, and I don’t even have good cell phone reception where I am,” he said.

Ali Tavakoli pointed out that he does not have any news from his brother and has only heard his brother’s Student Day message.  “Unfortunately, we live in a provincial city and Majid is inside a prison in Karaj. The long distance, which requires making travel plans, makes the task difficult. I have not seen my brother for a long time and have no news of him.”

Ali Tavakoli and his family must travel 15 hours in order to visit Majid Tavakoli in Rajaei Shahr prison in Karaj.

Majid Tavakoli is a student activists who was sentenced to an 8.5 years in prison, five years’ ban from political activities, and five years’ ban from leaving the country. He was tried in Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Courts for “gathering and collusion against the regime”, “propagating against the regime”, and “insulting the Supreme Leader and the President.”  He is currently serving his prison term in Ward 3, Hall 8 of Rajaei Shahr prison in Karaj.

(4 December 2010) The Iranian government should immediately end its policy of depriving university students of higher education based on their political or religious beliefs, and respect their freedom of expression and conscience, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today with the publication of a new report, “Punishing Stars: Systematic Discrimination and Exclusion in Iranian Higher Education.”

The 77-page report, based on interviews with 27 students barred from higher education, is being released on the occasion of National Student Day in Iran, 7 December.

“Excluding students from universities based on their political and religious views is a totalitarian practice that ruins careers and removes reform-oriented young people from future professional cohorts,” said Hadi Ghaemi, the Campaign’s spokesperson.

During the past six years, the administration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, through close coordination between its Ministries of Intelligence and Science, has systematically targeted university campuses to suppress social and political activism as well as to exclude Baha’i students due to their religious beliefs.

Hundreds of students have been barred from higher education through this process. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran interviewed 27 students barred from higher education. Additionally, the Campaign compiled a list of 217 students who were denied their right to education. The true numbers are believed to be much higher, as many targeted students have preferred to remain silent and not make their case public, fearing further persecution and prosecution, or hoping that they can reverse their education bans by giving written guarantees to cease future activism.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as the head of the cabinet, including the Ministries of Science and Intelligence, as well as the head of the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution (three bodies engaged in systematically depriving students from right to education), is ultimately responsible and should be held accountable.

These policies have included wholesale shuttering of independent student organizations, massive imprisonment of student activists, purging ideologically suspect faculty, depriving targeted students from continuing their higher education, and even assaulting social sciences and humanities curricula in an effort to cleanse them of “un-Islamic” concepts.

Contents:
I. Executive Summary
II. Background
III. In Their Own Words: Interviews with Students
IV. Unfolding of Starred Student Controversy
V. Regulatory Framework for Denial of Education
VI. Violations of International Law
VII. Recommendations
VIII. List of Students Barred from Higher Education, 2005-2010

Soon after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became President of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2005, the term “starred students” entered Iranian discourse on higher education, indicating a mechanism for discrimination against, and exclusion of, students from higher education based solely on their political beliefs, the exercise of their freedom of expression, and in the case of Baha’i students, their religious beliefs.

Punishing Stars is a thorough and systematic study of Iran’s discriminatory higher education practices, based on close examinations of official policies and on direct testimonies by students about being barred from study, and their efforts to seek accountability by Iranian authorities.

“’Barring students from higher education is a violation of Iran’s international legal obligations to promote equality and nondiscrimination, and the Iranian people’s right to education,” Ghaemi said.

The Right to Education, which is proclaimed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and guaranteed by the International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights, which has been signed and ratified by Iran, stresses equitable access to higher education, with meeting academic entrance standards the only legitimate admissions criterion. Students interviewed by the Campaign who had been shut out of universities included some who had among the highest scores on competitive national entrance examinations.

National Student Day, 7 December, is an occasion on which Iranian students have protested to demand their rights. It marks the date on which three demonstrating students were killed by security forces of the campus of Tehran University in 1953.

The Campaign called for an immediate end to such discriminatory practices, which punish university students for exercising their legitimate rights to freedom of assembly, expression, opinion, and religious belief.

The arrest of another four members of Daftar Tahkim-e Vahdat, a student organization pronounced “illegal” by Iran’s Ministry of Science and Ministry of Intelligence, marks a new phase of crackdowns on student activists. Raja News, a website close to security and judicial circles, said in a 31 October report titled “The movements of the team were related with the MEK for reviving the Allameh group in a new cover,” emphasized the student group’s “illegal” status, waging several charges against the student activists. The sources for such reports are unknown. In the past, similar articles have appeared and in their wake, a marked rise in the arrests of student and political activists has occurred. Raja News claimed that two members of the organization are connected to Pjak and MEK groups and that the students received funds from the organizations. In its report Raja News claimed that several “low grade activists of certain universities” have been “deceived” in order to “create a new group which would follow the interests of the terrorist group MEK, under the guise of a student organization named ‘Allameh Group.’”

“Compared to other groups, the pressure on Tahkim-e Vahdat’s General and Central Council members has been immense and mounting daily over the past few years. It shows the regime is hard at work to eliminate the nationwide student organization in different ways,” a member of Daftar Tahkim-e Vahdat told the Campaign regarding the recent arrests of their members.

“But arresting members of Tahkim-e Vahdat on the threshold of 7 December and after the organization’s renewed efforts show that security forces have no intention of compromising with organizations that seek freedom, democracy, and human rights,” he added.

“The new gathering of Tahkim-e Vahdat was held under dangerous and suppressive circumstances. Security forces acted quickly to arrest selected members,” said the Tahkim-e Vahdat member who requested anonymity. “It seems the arrests and crackdown on different layers of student movement is intensifying as we get closer to Student Day (7 December), and in order to achieve maximum suppression, the universities would implement scenarios implemented by security forces,” he added.

According to student sources who have spoken with the Campaign, Raja News’ report is the basis for the Ministry of Information’s crackdown on Daftar Tahkim-e Vahdat activists. According to the source, the recent arrests do not appear accidental and are a continuation of the scenario described by Raja News.  Last Friday, Ali Gholizadeh, Secretary of Shahroud Islamic Council was arrested by security forces at his father’s home in Mashad. Alireza Kiani, Political Secretary of Mazandaran University’s Islamic Council was arrested in Babolsar by several anonymous and armed forces. Mohsen Barzegar, who had gone to Babol’s Mati Kolai Prison to provide documents for his case file, was arrested after leaving the Prison and driven away in a police vehicle. Mohammad Heydarzadeh, another member of Tahkim-e Vahdat who had been summoned to Shahr-e Kord’s Intelligence Office, was arrested after he appeared.

After news of the arrests of three other Daftar Tahkim-e Vahdat activists was published, the group’s Public Affairs branch issued a statement condemning arrests of its active members. “The Tahkim-e Vahdat Organization condemns the arrests of Mr. Ali Gholizadeh, Alireza Kiani, Mohsen Barzegar, and Mohammad Heydarzadeh, and demands the release of these student activists and other imprisoned students. Tahkim-e Vahdat remains resolute  and determined to continue its honorable path forward,” the statement said.

“They didn’t touch any of his things. Two cars were parked outside our home. They were five men. Two of them entered the house, and one of them was standing in front of the entrance. I said ‘but my son hasn’t done anything, ask your questions right here.’ They said they would return him before nightfall,” said Gholizadeh’s mother.

Ali Gholizadeh is a resident of Mashad and a former Secretary of Shahroud Islamic Association and a current member of the General Council of Daftar Tahkim-e Vahdat student organization. Last year, he was deprived from continuing his graduate studies through a ruling from the Ministry of Intelligence. Previously, he had been arrested by Mashad Intelligence Office on 8 August 2008, and spent time inside the Intelligence Office Detention Center. His family has no information about his detention location. “We will stay up till morning for Ali’s return,” his mother told the Campaign.

Behnam Farazmand is a student activist and member of the Mazandaran University Islamic Students Association. He was twice arrested by Mazandaran security forces during post-election events and has been suspended for three terms. The source told the Campaign that Farazmand is awaiting a court ruling. Mazandaran University authorities did not allow Farazmand to enroll in classes this fall and he was dismissed on orders from the University Chancellor.

Kaveh Daneshvar is the former secretary of the Student Guild Council of Noshirvani University. Daneshvar previously went on strike to protest the widespread arrests of Noshirvani University student activists. He was interrogated after being summoned to the Intelligence Office of Babol. Daneshvar was suspended for two semesters by the Disciplinary Committee of Noshirvani University and immediately expelled by the university chancellor after his suspension was over. After appealing the decision, Daneshvar was officially expelled from the Ministry of Science in October 2010.

Emad Bahavar, Ashkan Zahabyan, Sarah Khademi, Siavash Salimi Nejad, and Iman Sedighi are five other student activists from the two universities who received their expulsion sentences in spring 2010. With the commencement of the new academic year, pressure and repression in these two universities has intensified to the point that seven student activists have been expelled by Dr. Janalizadeh, Chancellor of Noshirvani University, and Dr. Ahmadpour, Chancellor of Mazandaran University. A great number of other students have been summoned to the Intelligence Units of their respective universities

The Mazandaran Province Intelligence Office informed Mohebbi’s family that until Mohebbi shows remorse for his previous activities, he will remain in solitary confinement and will not be released, the source told the Campaign.

Navid Mohebbi was arrested by Mazandaran Province Intelligence forces on 18 September, and was transferred to the Intelligence Office’s Detention Center. Sources close to Mohebbi’s family reported that intelligence forces beat him severely at the time of arrest. Mohebbi is a high school senior in the City of Amol. Previously, the Amol Intelligence Office arrested and detained Mohebbi for several days to interrogate him during International Women’s Day (8 March) protests and also during the national celebration of Charshanbeh Souri holiday in March 2010.