In early December 2007, dozens of socialist Iranian students were arrested
for taking part in the National Student Day demonstration. The
demonstration’s slogans were against war, against poverty, and for freedom
and equality:

No to imperialist war, death to dictator!
The University is not an army garrison!
Hands Off the People of Iran!
No to criminal imperialist intervention!
Equality, Democracy, Boycott the elections! (reference to Islamic
parliamentary elections in March 2008)

Similar demonstrations were held at universities in Shiraz, Mashad,
Mazandaran, and on the 14th of January participants and organisers of
peaceful demonstrations were accused of “undermining state security” and of
“links with oppositional political forces”. The weblog / newspaper ‘Avaye
Daneshsgah’ writes:

“Workers:

Leftist student activists are adamant that their struggles can only succeed
if they are united with the working class. That is because we believe that
the working class is the only force capable of bringing about radical and
fundamental change capable of freeing society of all class relations. The
student movement has taken direct steps to forge solidarity with the workers
movement. This was the right time for the working class to defend its
supporters in universities and over the last few days we have witnessed
support from many workers’ committees, unions and independent workers’
organisations.

Iranian students also raised the slogans for the unconditional release of
labour activists (Salehi, Ossanlou, Madadi, Dehghan) because we consider
the Iranian working class to be our strategic allies and we are confident
that the workers movement will continue to support us. Prison is part and
parcel of class repression and so calling for the release of political
prisoners is equally part and parcel of class struggle.”

The student paper has also warned all factions of the regime, including the
‘reformist factions’, not to use their struggles to make political capital
in the sham elections planned for March 2008. They warn Khatami (the man
they call ‘Mullah with a smile’) that his disastrous rule paved the way for
the calamity Iranians now face and that the time for reforming the Islamic
regime is gone once and for all. No one in the ‘reformist` factions should
avoid taking the opportunist position of ‘supporting’ socialist students.

They warn the ‘reformists’ that all Iranians, including students, have a
good memory and will not forget or forgive the human rights abuses that
took place under the rule of the so-called ‘reformist’ factions of the
Islamic regime in Iran:

“For us a dictator is dictator, whether he does his dirty deeds with a smile
and chocolate-coloured Aba (the cleric’s shawl – a reference to Khatami) or
with a scroll and a crème-coloured Aba (a reference to Ahmadinejad) .

Last week, Ebrahim Latif Allahi, a law student in Payam Noor University in
Sanandaj who had been arrested about two weeks ago by the security forces, was killed
in Sanandaj prison. His family were told that “he had committed suicide in the prison”
but that “his body was already buried”.

Ebrahim’s family are adamant that he was killed under torture however they
are coming under intense pressure to stick to the official line that ‘he
committed suicide’.

That is why HOPI calls for the immediate unconditional release of all
imprisoned Iranian students.