On September 4 at 11am, Anooshe Azadbar – overwhelming voted one of its honorary vice presidents by the British student union at its annual conference in April – was brought before a court in Iran. She faced multiple charges:

– plotting against the Islamic regime

– plotting against the Islamic order

– acting against Iranian national interests with a left wing group

This arose from her prominent involvement in the December 4 2007 demonstrations where “Hands Off the People of Iran” placards were prominent.

Anooshe denied the charges, stating that this was a legal student demonstration against the threat of war, not an explicitly anti-regime protest.

In court, it was pointed out that this contradicted what she had said under interrogation. Anooshe replied that these statements had been obtained after she had been subjected to great psychological pressure. She also claimed to have been tortured.

Vague charges were also made that she had either received financial help from leftwing groups or had given money to certain groups. Her lawyer denied these charges, simply pointing out that as his client is penniless, she is clearly neither receiving money or in a position to dish it out. The judge eventually decided that the dossier was ‘incomplete’ and so Anooshe must go back to court at a later date for further questioning.

It is not clear when the next court hearing will be. She will be summoned to give another interview at the prosecutor’s office and following this there will be another court appearance. She is not the only student leader currently facing this oppression – it is estimated that another four or five other students are facing similar court procedures.

Ben Lewis of the Hopi steering committee commented:

“The dominant trend within the Islamic regime is clearly using the tension generated by the sabre-rattling of imperialism to clamp down on internal dissent. The harassment of our comrade Anooshe Azadbar comes at the same time as the sentencing of women’s rights activists of the One Million Signatures campaign to six-month prison terms and the ominous threats against the 2003 Peace Nobel Laureate, Shirin Ebadi, who has been dubbed an agent of Zionism.

“It seems the regime will not tolerate even mild-mannered reformist attempts to moderate its repressive rule, let alone the militant action of students. The threat of war plays into their hands – that’s why we stand against the war-mongering of the imperialists and the repressive regime in Tehran.”

Hopi demands that all charges against Anooshe Azadbar are immediately dropped. Our campaign will be organising press conferences and protests in solidarity with the arrested students. See subsequent releases and our website for details.

ENDS

Notes for journalists

1. The December 4 2007 demonstrations marked Student Day at the University of Tehran. During the lead-up left activists were condemned by the government, and students were warned not to attend.

2. Student Day has been commemorated for 54 years in honour of three martyrs killed by the former shah’s regime during protests against the visit of Richard Nixon to Iran.

3. On Saturday December 2 2007, while student activists were preparing for Student Day, arrests started. Mehdi Gerailoo and Nader Ahsani were kidnapped from their own homes by the security forces. In the afternoon two students of the sociology faculty at the University of Tehran – Victoria Jamshidi and Anoosheh Azadbar – were arrested at their home without any explanation. The arrests continued until Student Day itself, when a minimum of 26 students from various universities were rounded up.

4. The demo, organised by the organisation Radical Left students, went ahead. Revolutionary songs were sung. Students held up placards with slogans such as: “No war”, “Hands Off the People of Iran”, “The university is not an army garrison”, “The liberty of women is the liberty of society”, “Free the political prisoners”, “There is an alternative”, “Free our classmates”, “The students movement allied with the workers’ and women’s movements”, “We want independent unions” and “Freedom and equality!”