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Suspensions by University Disciplinary Committees

During the past year, disciplinary committees in universities have summoned student activists in large numbers. These committees have been in place since 1985, but during the presidency of MohammadKhatami (1997-2005) they were rarely used as a means of pressuring student activists. As one student told Human Rights Watch:

Targeting of student activists by Disciplinary Committees started in 2002 and in the past year it has greatly intensified. They have become the main centers of exerting pressure on students to force them into silence. The pressure originates from the Supreme Council for Cultural Revolution and the Ministry of Information. These organs direct the committees to go after specific students.¹³

The disciplinary committees are charged with investigating student misconduct and are empowered to hand down punishments. According to the Disciplinary Regulations for University Students in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the purview of the disciplinary committees covers a broad range of offenses including criminal, educational and administrative, political, and moral offenses.¹⁴ Among the political offenses defined in the Regulations are “insulting Islamic and national beliefs and committing actions against the Islamic Republic (such as writing slogans, distributing announcements)” and “providing false information intentionally.”¹⁵

The committees can order punishments that include suspending students from the university, expelling students, and even banning students from education in all universities for up to five years.¹⁶

The composition of the committees is determined by the university administration. In each university, the disciplinary committee has five voting members: a representative of Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei, the dean of students, a member of the faculty appointed by the university president, and two students also appointed by the university president; there is also a non-voting committee secretary. Committee decisions require a simple majority.¹⁷

Since July 2005, disciplinary committees have suspended at least 41 students from universities for up to two semesters. According to media reports, 11 students (who were not named) were suspended from Hamedan University.¹⁸ Human Rights Watch obtained the names of another 30 suspended students, as follows:

• Suspended for two semesters:

1. Mujtaba Bayat, member of the central committee of Islamic Students Association, Tehran University.

2. Zeinab Peyghambarzadeh, Tehran University.

3. Arash Khandil, member of the Islamic Students’ Association, Loristan University.

4. Muhammad Javad Dorrodkeshan, member of the Islamic Students’ Association, Loristan University.

5. Hassan Rezaii Ghal’e-No, member of the Society of Islamic Students, Medical University of Mashad.

6. Towhid Alizadeh, Tehran University.

7. Siamak Nadali, member of the Islamic Students’ Association, Loristan University.

8. Mustapha Navidi, Sharif University.

• Suspended for one semester:

1. Muhammad Sadeq Esfandiari, Tehran University.

2. Hadi Arami, Yazd University.

3. Abed Tavancheh, Amir Kabir University, former member of the central committee of Islamic Students’ Associations.

4. Abbas Hakimzadeh, Amir Kabir University, member of the central committee of Islamic Students’ Associations.

5. Hussein Heidari, Tehran University.

6. Mohsen Sohrabi, Amir Kabir University, member of the Islamic Students’ Association.

7. Asu Saleh, Kurdistan University.

8. Muhsen Fatehi, Tehran University.

9. Ali Feyzi, Tehran University.

10. Amin Ghalei, Isfahan University, member of the Islamic Students’ Association.

11. Behruz Karimizadeh, Tehran University.

12. Arsalan Gudarzi, Tehran University.

13. Muhammad Khani, Alameh Tabataba’i University.

14. Alireza Maghsoodi, director of student Basij [a militia organization], Azad University of Bandar Abbas.

15. Muhammad Amin Mahdush, Isfahan University and Medical Sciences, member of the Islamic Students’ Association.

16. Ahmad Mirzai, Isfahan University and Medical Sciences, member of the Islamic Students’ Association.

17. Seyed Hussein Mir-Karimi, Sahan University of Tabriz, member of the Islamic Students’ Association.

18. Hussein Najafi, Mashad University and Medical Sciences.

19. Salman Sima, editor of Sokhan Tazeh student publication, Azad University of South Tehran.

20. Rasool Bakhshali, Neishapur Payam Nur University.

21. Hadi Montakhebi, Isfahan University.

22. Behrouz Karimizadeh, editor of Khak student publication, Tehran University.

A student activist at Tehran University told Human Rights Watch that since June 2006, Tehran University’s disciplinary committee summoned 53 other students, and has so far issued suspension rulings for 13 of them.¹⁹ Of these cases, he said, five students were suspended for two semesters and eight for one semester.