Iranian Students Gearing Up For Nationwide Anti-Hijab Protests

In a statement on Tuesday, the Council stated that "A significant number of students have received suspension and expulsion orders through an illegal process."

Iran's student movement gained momentum last year amid the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. Universities were the scene of large anti-regime demonstrations.

According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), 637 students from 144 universities have been arrested since mid-September.

Some sources inside Iran have also announced that the number of detained students is more than 700.

Last week, the ministry of higher education said institutions under its coverage will no longer offer educational and other services to students who do not abide by hijab rules.

“All universities and higher education institutions under the coverage of the ministry of sciences, research and technology will not be obliged to offer educational, welfare and other services to the few students who do not abide by the laws and regulations of the universities in this regard,” the ministry said in the statement Monday.

An ever-increasing number of women and university students have been casting off their compulsory hijab since the beginning of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement seven months ago but hardliners are now taking a much more aggressive approach to punish and them and enforce the Islamic dress code.

Political scientist Jahanbakhsh Mohebbinia told Rouydad24 website that "Iran is moving in a direction that it would be a surprise if there are no killings in a week or in a month, and this is a dangerous situation for the country."

Speaking about the reasons why the 2022 protests in Iran led to violence, Mohebbinia said Iranian society has been always living with violence in recent decades. For nearly half of a century no one in the government has paid any attention to what the people want and not only those in the government, but everyone else including judges, university lecturers, taxi drivers and so on have always wanted to exercise their authority on the people. This creates an accrued hatred that can lead to an explosion.

The protests showed that the Iranian nation is now reacting to the existing authoritarianism, Mohebbinia argued. The people think the government is playing games with them. The government on the other hand, ignores the world's realities and if we continue this route we are going to end up in a quagmire and collapse. And particularly when the economy collapses, you cannot do anything to save the country.

100%

Mohebbinia added that when the government suppresses the protests, the wounds and hatred will be accrued, and the society will never see peace again. "I know that some people were even pushing the country toward a civil war." He advised that the government should hesitate when it thinks of another round of suppression because there is a potential for a civil war.

Many have been warning during recent weeks that the government's insistence on enforcing the compulsory hijab will inevitably bring two parts of the society at a dangerous logger head. He further charged that former US National Security Adviser John Bolton came up with the idea of a civil war in Iran when the government failed to handle the protests wisely. However, the accusation could be the academic's tactic to avoid a reaction by the government. As long as a pundit says something negative about the United States, he can secure a measure of protection for criticizing the government.

Mohebbinia said that the government should not approach the protests in Kurdistan or Khuzestan violently while even the capital Tehran has the potential for starting a civil war, similar to what happened in Yemen and Syria. He warned: "When you fan the fire of insecurity, economic crisis and cultural differences, the country could be divided into ten countries."

100%

Meanwhile, reformist commentator Abbas Abdi warned that the regime’s zeal to enforce the hijab cannot succeed. "It is undoubtedly impossible to impose religious values by using force or introducing new laws."

Abdi said it is hard for the religious government in Iran to accept that that the people have turned away from religion during recent decades. Abdi probably did not want to mention that it was the mismanagement and inefficiency of the Islamic Republic as a religious government that has annoyed Iranians.

Abdi said that in the absence of real opinion surveys, the government does not admit that religion has lost its power. However, he said that observations show that fewer people in Iran go to mosques or fast during Ramadan or pay their religious 20 percent tax (Khoms). He added that fewer Iranians nowadays give religious names to their children compared even to 10 years ago.

Security forces and plainclothes agents have been deployed at the entrance of the universities to prevent uncovered women from entering, including at Tehran University of Arts, where reports claim “veiled women covered them with shawls”.

The student organizations of the University of Arts called these measures "cheap, insulting and intolerable" adding that large numbers of female students were denied entry for refusing the mandatory hijab. Many girls at universities across the country have received warning texts as the country announced new surveillance measures to catch hijab rebels this week.

Students of Noshirvani University of Babol reported that the messages read: "It has been observed that your clothing in the university environment is not in accordance with the norm announced by the ministry of science and university."

In Al-Zahra University of Tehran, in addition to preventing the entry of students who refuse to observe the mandatory hijab, officials notified all students of the "dress code regulations" on the university portal.

Rules specifically stated that the hijab "must cover their hair and neck" and "short, tight, torn, and unbuttoned clothes and pants are not allowed".

While numbers of arrests are hard to verify in the secretive republic, more than 20,000 Iranians have been arrested since unrest began in September, according to rights group Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

According to reports on social media, Fatemeh Motamed-Arya, Jafar Panahi, and Mohammad Rasoulof also inquired about Salehi's health condition during their visit.

The meeting comes as concerns are mounting over the rapper’s condition in prison with human rights organizations demanding his immediate access to medical treatment.

Salehi, 33, an artist mostly known for his protest songs about Iran's social issues and injustice by the government, was arrested in October after joining street protests that had erupted across the country in September after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.

His arrest came shortly after his interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, calling the regime “a mafia that is ready to kill the entire nation... in order to keep its power, money and weapons”.

The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) says the detained rapper needs urgent treatment, which cannot be provided in prison.

On Sunday, Iranian activists living in Montreal, Canada held a rally calling for support for the imprisoned protesters in Iran, including Toomaj Salehi.

The 33-year-old metalworker from Esfahan is one of dozens of members of the artistic and entertainment community who have been arrested since the protests began as the regime struggles to contain widespread discontent in the country.

This protest rally was staged two days after a group of medical staff in the northeastern religious city of Mashhad also held a gathering to protest their poor living condition chanting, "We fought against Corona, we didn't get any support".

According to the Free Union of Iranian Workers the staff of Mashhad Medical Emergency also gathered in front of the Razavi Khorasan Governorate.

On the same day, Mashhad taxi drivers also protested outside the Taxi Organization, while news from the central city of Esfahan said farmers held a rally in front of the Water Department due to not receiving their water share.

On April 4, two hospitals in Babol in the north and central city of Arak witnessed a protest gathering of nurses who were angry about unpaid salaries.

Earlier, Secretary General of the Nursing Home announced in an interview with Didehban website that every month about 200 nurses emigrate from Iran.

Rising prices and economic hardship have led to repeated labor strikes and nationwide protests in the past few days.

The national currency has halved in value since September pushing prices for food and other necessities higher on top of 40-50-percent inflation in the past three years.