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DL note :
This year's Student protests were an exception in bravery, challenge and success.
All three aspects of the event are a suggestive sign to point to the weak and fragile position of the IRAN regime.
The extremely alert security presence; nationwide security mobilization and also added up special organizational chart to curb and prevent gatherings of the students has FAILED in the best manner possible.
Obviously the Iranian youth have once again displayed a unique will and power for FREEDOM which may set an example for others.
They have been inventive in almost all ways of "modern resistance" ; in the way of communicating with the news to the world outside, in the new organizational manner which is as strict in organization as it is dynamic in order and discipline; and also in courage and will power.
It almost is obvious that this year's protests have been more a threat to the Iran regime than previous ones.
All three aspects of the event are a suggestive sign to point to the weak and fragile position of the IRAN regime.
The extremely alert security presence; nationwide security mobilization and also added up special organizational chart to curb and prevent gatherings of the students has FAILED in the best manner possible.
Obviously the Iranian youth have once again displayed a unique will and power for FREEDOM which may set an example for others.
They have been inventive in almost all ways of "modern resistance" ; in the way of communicating with the news to the world outside, in the new organizational manner which is as strict in organization as it is dynamic in order and discipline; and also in courage and will power.
It almost is obvious that this year's protests have been more a threat to the Iran regime than previous ones.
PRESS COVERAGE
NY TIMES
Iran Security Officials Arrest Four at Newspaper
By WILLIAM YONG
TEHRAN — Security officials have raided one of Iran’s few remaining independent newspapers, arresting three journalists and a managing director, web sites associated with the political opposition reported Wednesday.
The arrests, made Tuesday, coincided with the publication of a special supplement by the newspaper, Shargh, that paid homage to Student Day, the annual commemoration of the deaths of student protesters in 1953. The section, titled “The Student Movement is Alive,” included interviews with government critics and amounted to a daring compliment to the student protesters and others who demonstrated after the disputed June 2009 presidential elections.
Iran’s official news outlets on Wednesday reported the arrest of four members of Shargh but made no connection between the arrests and the Student Day supplement. Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi, the top prosecutor in Tehran, said in an interview with the ISNA news agency that the four were under investigation for “security-related offenses” but gave did not identify them or elaborate on the accusations against them.
Iranian judicial authorities have arrested or intimidated dozens of journalists and closed at least 10 publications as part of a broad crackdown on the political opposition since the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by a suspiciously lopsided margin that his challengers called a fraud.
Opposition web sites reported that security officers raided the Shargh newspaper offices twice on Tuesday, first arresting a senior editor, Ahmad Gholami, as well as two other senior editorial staff members while roughing up other staff members. Later in the day, the web sites said, officials returned to arrest Ali Khodabakhsh, a managing director, who has financed and run a number of newspapers and magazines now banned by the Iranian government because of views that are deemed politically unacceptable.
Shargh has been closed by Iran’s press censors on three occasions since it was started in 2003. The latest ban was in 2007 when the newspaper was accused of “violating public chastity.” Shargh was again given permission to publish this past March.
Students at universities all over Iran commemorated Student Day on Tuesday with modest protests within the confines of their campuses and on a scale far smaller than those in the months immediately following Mr. Ahmadinejad’s re-election.
None of the protests were reported in the state-run press. But opposition web site videos posted on Youtube showed gatherings of several hundred students at universities in Tehran, Ghazvin, Rasht and Hamedan chanting anti-government slogans and singing songs associated with the reform movement.
At least one video showed skirmishes with pro-government militia men whom opposition web sites reported had been brought in to suppress the protests. According to the reports, police made around a dozen arrests nationwide.
Hundreds of students have been arrested in the post-election crackdown, including a number of prominent student leaders who have received long prison sentences for charges such as “acting against national security” and “propaganda against the regime.”. Many more have been disciplined or expelled.
UPI
Special Reports
Iran's students key reformers, HRW says
NEW YORK, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Iranian students are at the forefront of the struggle for political freedom, Human Rights Watch said while highlighting repression in Iran.
Several Iranian student activists were detained by authorities Tuesday during celebrations for National Student's Day, reports Radio Zamaneh, a Persian broadcaster based in the Netherlands.
Iranian journalists were arrested and several opposition Web sites were shut down as state media blacked out all reports on student protests in the country.
Human Rights Watch said that "dozens" of student leaders were behind bars and several others were kicked off campus for political activism.
Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said that despite a climate of repression in Iran, students are on the front lines of the fight for democratic rights in Iran.
"The government accuses student activists of endangering national security and being manipulated by 'foreign elements' as cover for its campaign to eliminate the student movement and stifle academic freedom," he said in a statement. "Despite these pressures, students are at the front line of the struggle for greater freedoms at universities and throughout society."
National Student's Day commemorates the anniversary of the deaths of three university students killed in 1953 by security forces under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
NCRI
Iran: students brace for anti-regime protests on Student Day .
TEHRAN — Security officials have raided one of Iran’s few remaining independent newspapers, arresting three journalists and a managing director, web sites associated with the political opposition reported Wednesday.
The arrests, made Tuesday, coincided with the publication of a special supplement by the newspaper, Shargh, that paid homage to Student Day, the annual commemoration of the deaths of student protesters in 1953. The section, titled “The Student Movement is Alive,” included interviews with government critics and amounted to a daring compliment to the student protesters and others who demonstrated after the disputed June 2009 presidential elections.
Iran’s official news outlets on Wednesday reported the arrest of four members of Shargh but made no connection between the arrests and the Student Day supplement. Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi, the top prosecutor in Tehran, said in an interview with the ISNA news agency that the four were under investigation for “security-related offenses” but gave did not identify them or elaborate on the accusations against them.
Iranian judicial authorities have arrested or intimidated dozens of journalists and closed at least 10 publications as part of a broad crackdown on the political opposition since the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by a suspiciously lopsided margin that his challengers called a fraud.
Opposition web sites reported that security officers raided the Shargh newspaper offices twice on Tuesday, first arresting a senior editor, Ahmad Gholami, as well as two other senior editorial staff members while roughing up other staff members. Later in the day, the web sites said, officials returned to arrest Ali Khodabakhsh, a managing director, who has financed and run a number of newspapers and magazines now banned by the Iranian government because of views that are deemed politically unacceptable.
Shargh has been closed by Iran’s press censors on three occasions since it was started in 2003. The latest ban was in 2007 when the newspaper was accused of “violating public chastity.” Shargh was again given permission to publish this past March.
Students at universities all over Iran commemorated Student Day on Tuesday with modest protests within the confines of their campuses and on a scale far smaller than those in the months immediately following Mr. Ahmadinejad’s re-election.
None of the protests were reported in the state-run press. But opposition web site videos posted on Youtube showed gatherings of several hundred students at universities in Tehran, Ghazvin, Rasht and Hamedan chanting anti-government slogans and singing songs associated with the reform movement.
At least one video showed skirmishes with pro-government militia men whom opposition web sites reported had been brought in to suppress the protests. According to the reports, police made around a dozen arrests nationwide.
Hundreds of students have been arrested in the post-election crackdown, including a number of prominent student leaders who have received long prison sentences for charges such as “acting against national security” and “propaganda against the regime.”. Many more have been disciplined or expelled.
UPI
Special Reports
Iran's students key reformers, HRW says
NEW YORK, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Iranian students are at the forefront of the struggle for political freedom, Human Rights Watch said while highlighting repression in Iran.
Several Iranian student activists were detained by authorities Tuesday during celebrations for National Student's Day, reports Radio Zamaneh, a Persian broadcaster based in the Netherlands.
Iranian journalists were arrested and several opposition Web sites were shut down as state media blacked out all reports on student protests in the country.
Human Rights Watch said that "dozens" of student leaders were behind bars and several others were kicked off campus for political activism.
Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said that despite a climate of repression in Iran, students are on the front lines of the fight for democratic rights in Iran.
"The government accuses student activists of endangering national security and being manipulated by 'foreign elements' as cover for its campaign to eliminate the student movement and stifle academic freedom," he said in a statement. "Despite these pressures, students are at the front line of the struggle for greater freedoms at universities and throughout society."
National Student's Day commemorates the anniversary of the deaths of three university students killed in 1953 by security forces under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
NCRI
Iran: students brace for anti-regime protests on Student Day .
The statements lambast the Iranian regime’s repressive policies and cruelty against Iranian citizens and the student population, pointing to widespread arrests and attacks by the mullahs’ security forces on the country’s campuses.
One statement by students at Tehran’s Khajeh Nasir University recalls the regime’s barbaric measures against extensive uprisings after June 2009, saying, “Our memories have been tarnished by images of our friends being thrown off balconies, broken doors and windows, bullets, batons, tear gas, smoke, and friends whose blood has been shed, those who have been wounded, and others jailed or under torture.”
Students at the Free University in Tehran remembers in a separate statement the painful memories of the killing of their friends Ashkan Sohrabi and Amir Javadifar during the 2009 uprisings at the hands of the regime’s suppressive forces.
“(This month) is reminiscent of years of student struggle in this land against tyranny and terror. This month has a day named after us, the students,” the statement said, adding that the struggle will continue.
In addition to anger towards the clerical regime, the declarations also portray a sense of resolve on behalf of the students, as they vow to stand firm in search of democracy as well as working to free their imprisoned colleagues.
Reports indicate that over 90 prominent students have been imprisoned by the clerical regime since the June 2009 uprisings, according to Daneshjou News.
Babol’s Noshirvani University students called for the release of three of their friends, warning the regime to “free our classmates and stop being vengeful and arrogant.”
The students at the University of Tehran expressed hope that on Student Day “the (politically) conscious students will actively participate in protests to press on with their legitimate demands.”
At Amir Kabir University, students called on their colleagues to join in the protests on December 7 to “shout out together that the university is alive.”
December 7, known as Student Day in Iran, is the anniversary of the murder of three University of Tehran students in 1953. The anniversary has turned into an annual practice of expressing opposition to the clerical regime by students at various universities in Iran.
..
Human Right Watch
Iran: Escalating Repression of University Students
(New York) - Dozens of university students are behind bars and several hundred others have been expelled from campus because of their political activism or religious affiliation, Human Rights Watch said today as Iran marked National Student Day. Many of those in prison hold leadership positions in well known student organizations critical of the government.
Read more
LA Times
IRAN: Despite crackdown, students stage anti-government protests nationwide
efying a severe crackdown against the opposition and widespread political repression, Iranian students on Tuesday staged small anti-government protests throughout the country on the anniversary of Students Day.
Amateur video footage taken during illegal protests on campuses throughout the country showed students chanting slogans from last year's huge demonstrations against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose widely disputed reelection last year spurred months of unrest.
"Mahmoud, you traitor," they chanted on the grounds of Tehran's Sharif University. "Death to you!"
Read More
Wall Street Journal
Iranian Students Stage Protests .
BEIRUT—Iranian students staged antigovernment protests nationwide Tuesday, turning an annual commemoration of student political activism into an opportunity to voice opposition to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the regime that backs him.
Videos posted online showed students marching across campus grounds with green banners—the color of the opposition—holding pictures of jailed students, and chanting "death to the dictator" and "free student prisoners."
Security forces responded with a heavy security deployment, and at least eight arrests, according to the student website Daneshjoo. Official media didn't cover the protests or report any arrests.
Read More
NCR
Maryam Rajavi: Two days of widespread student uprising reflects Iran’s potential to overthrow mullahs’ regime .
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the Iranian Resistance’s President-elect, lauded the brave students’ protests and demonstrations during the past two days all across the country marking the anniversary of ‘Student Day’, and saluted the people and youth whose last night chants of ‘Allahu Akbar’ and ‘death to dictator’ aired through a wide area of Tehran
Read More
The Australian
Iranian students, militias clash in university demos
The clashes came as talks in Geneva aimed at resolving tensions over Iran's nuclear program ended without agreement.
National Student Day was marked by a string of anti-government protests at campuses across the capital in some of the worst civil unrest this year.
Dozens were arrested as students chanted "Death to the dictator" and waved placards attacking President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
There were also cries of support for Mir Hossein Mousavi, the opposition Green Movement candidate in last year's disputed presidential election.
Read More
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