Iranian Activists Decry Government Corruption

“Unfortunately, there has been a lot of government interference at the universities. The power of the Ministry of Science has diminished and it seems it is the Interior Ministry that gives orders to universities,” said Karen Abrinia Saturday in an interview with relatively independent news website Khabaronline.

According to Abrinia, around 200 university professors faced “restrictions” last year, 25 of whom were fired from their positions over their support for the 2022 nationwide uprising triggered by the death in morality-police custody of Mahsa Amini.

Some university professors were sacked, some were denied tenure or annual promotion, and for some, their salaries were suspended, he remarked, further adding that these actions targeted those who supported the 2022 protests by “signing statements or publicly declaring their positions.”

Abrinia stated that many of these professors have been told that they can go back to work only if they “sign a letter of repentance and express their regret” over their past positions. “The university is an institution of science and it needs to be independent … The real damage now is the loss of autonomy from universities,” he pointed out.

All these pressures, coupled with low wages and poor economic conditions, have led to increasing frustration among university teachers, especially the young ones, and can drive them to emigrate, he warned.

In August, Etemad news in Iran released a list of 157 tenured professors who were dismissed, forced into retirement, or banned from teaching for their criticism and dissenting views from 2006 to the end of August 2023. The “purge” has gained momentum since the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom movement with at least 52 dissident university professors being dismissed, the report said.

In March, Mohammad Moghimi, the pro-regime chancellor of the University of Tehran, denied allegations of purging academics based on their political beliefs, instead accusing those dismissed of "moral issues."

A university professor specialized in Educational Sciences told Iran International that following the 2022 nationwide uprising, the universities have transformed into “prisons” and the security forces, directly and indirectly, try to monitor and control “the smallest issues related to professors, even their personal lives.”

The university is turning into a puppet in the hands of those in power who want academic institutions to exactly reflect the mainstream ideology of the Islamic Republic, said the professor who spoke on condition of anonymity.

She added that the university, as an academic institution, has always been affiliated with the state in Iran, but after the Mahsa uprising, the university has lost "all its autonomy" and even the slightest act of resistance is suppressed.

“Based on the new regulations set for the professors’ promotion, they need to attend courses about the necessity of the Islamization of universities or they will be denied tenure,” she went on to say.

The conservative website Tabnak wrote initial reports indicating that a "terrorist team" was identified and encircled by security forces on Kowsar Street in Zahedan.

However, the Fars News Agency, which is associated with the Revolutionary Guards, attributed the incident to personal disputes, though it did not provide additional details.

Halvash news which covers the province, said a more extensive security presence, including plainclothes agents, had been deployed to the scene as fighting lasted for around two hours, with a reconnaissance drone spotted monitoring the situation.

This latest incident in Zahedan occurs against the backdrop of heightened regional instability. On April 4, clashes in two southern cities of the Sistan-Baluchestan province resulted in over 20 deaths involving security forces and members of the Jaish al-Adl militant group.

In related developments, the Southeast Headquarters of the Ground Forces of the Revolutionary Guards announced the recent arrest of several individuals at a religious school in Rask. The suspects were accused of supporting the insurgent Sunni Baluch group Jaish al-Adl. The Revolutionary Guards claim the cooperation of local residents facilitated the arrests.

Jaish al-Adl, however, has denied any affiliation with those detained, condemning the arrests as "a clear lie and conspiracy." The group, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Iran and several Western governments, warned of potential repercussions and advised against further provocations.

“The security apparatus of the regime must be aware that such actions are a clear provocation of the Jaish al-Adl organization…, and as such, these acts could have unpredictable consequences for our land,” read the group’s statement.

According to the Red Crescent's emergency response organization, the floods have sparked a crisis that spans much of the country.

The Meteorological Organization of Iran warned of a new wave of precipitation starting Sunday and spreading to multiple regions.

The latest natural tragedy comes after mid-April's rainfall which caused severe flooding and waterlogging in Sistan-Baluchestan province, destroying dozens of villages and disrupting utilities for at least 300 others. It comes when the country is already facing its hardest economic times amid ongoing social oppression. 

Social media users and local reports have highlighted a lack of emergency aid during the incidents, during which several people reportedly lost their lives. Despite forecasts that the new wave of rain might not lead to flooding, recent days have seen flooded streets and damaged infrastructure in various cities.

One of the hardest-hit areas was Shabestar county in East Azarbaijan, where floods have caused significant destruction.

In Dezful, in Khuzestan province, severe damage to civil and agricultural infrastructure has been reported, with homes and city parks submerged. The local officials have responded by closing riverside parks and ordering the evacuation of vehicles from these areas.

Video footage sent to Iran International shows severe flooding in the streets of Ahvaz, following the rainfall on Friday.

Hossein Zafari, deputy of the Crisis Management Organization, noted that floods in the provinces of Ilam and Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari have resulted in livestock losses, threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of farmers.

The provinces of Khorasan Razavi and Tehran have also reported damage from the recent heavy rains, leading to floods in several villages and areas with more displacement expected.

“We will have no mercy on the criminals associated with violent crimes, especially the drug traffickers who are death dealers and burn people’s lives with the fire of addiction,” he said on Saturday.

According to Amnesty International’s report, Iran conducted at least 853 executions in the past year, marking the highest figure in eight years, more than half of those linked to drug-related offenses.

In April, 82 Iranian and international human rights groups called on the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to suspend its cooperation with Iran until it halts drug-related executions.

The coalition highlighted that prisoners charged with drug offenses are sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Courts in Iran based on “torture-tainted confessions, without due process and fair trial rights and often without access to a lawyer.”

“We are concerned that hundreds more will be executed in the coming months if we do not increase the political cost of these executions for the Islamic Republic. We call on all human rights organizations and activists to take part in a special global campaign to stop drug-related executions in Iran,” the statement read.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the Director of the Norway-based Iran Human Rights Organization, warned that the UNODC has remained silent about the sharp hike in drug-related executions in the country, while it cooperates with Tehran on combating drug trafficking.

The drug-related executions are “aimed at instilling fear and preventing more protests” and have been carried out “without any political cost and consequences,” he stressed.

The minister, Reza Morad Sahraei, continued his criticism, telling the state-run Tasnim news agency that the document was "dictated from outside" and, under the administration of Ebrahim Raisi, is "completely cut out of any planning process."

The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a set of standards developed by UNESCO that provides children and young people with a basic understanding of the environment, human rights, and the elimination of discrimination in society.

The UN General Assembly adopted the document in September 2015 with the goal of improving the quality of education worldwide. The document was signed by member states, who agreed to anticipate the financing needed to improve education, prevent child abuse, and promote gender equality.

While the Iranian government signed on to the document under former president Hassan Rouhani (2013-2021), it was not implemented after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei explicitly criticized it, claiming it promoted the "defective, destructive and corrupt Western lifestyle."

In a speech at a 2022 UNESCO summit, the country’s current President, Ebrahim Raisi, described the 2030 Education Plan as "one-dimensional and secular." He said the Islamic Republic had drafted its own “transformation” document based on “Iranian-Islamic educational philosophy.”

A year later, Iran's Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution (SCCR) announced a resolution called the "revocation of the 2030 document." SCCR is a regime policy body responsible for developing and formulating scientific, educational, religious, and research strategies. In 2023, the EU and UK designated this unelected body accountable exclusively to Ali Khamenei.

Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the state has relentlessly attempted – and failed – to indoctrinate Iranians with its Islamist ideology through the country’s education system.

Following the significant involvement of the young generation in the nationwide anti-regime protests in 2022, the state initiated "purges" targeting thousands of staff within the country’s educational system, aiming to remove individuals perceived as threats.

Scores of teachers who supported the protests were expelled, and many were forced to retire early, while 3,500 clerics and seminarians have instead been hired as teachers instead to fill some of the tens of thousands of new positions created to deal with the shortage.

An education ministry spokesperson, Ali Farhadi, has stated that the ministry only learned about the recruitment after it had occurred. “We, too, found out that these individuals had been accepted [for the positions] after the examinations [of candidates for teaching positions] were held,” he claimed.

Regime-run media, however, has been advocating that clerics become teachers for months.

Despite the fact that the clergy have operated unofficial schools before, lawmakers hastily approved a proposal in January to have the Ministry of Education issue licenses to persons and legal entities wishing to establish private schools attached to mosques if they meet certain building requirements.

A gender-specific school curriculum and textbook changes were also discussed by Education Minister Reza Morad Sahraei in November.

Against this backdrop, teachers claim the regime’s policies and changes have transformed the country's schools into “religious and military bases”.

A December interview with Khabar Online, a domestic outlet, reported teachers' concerns about plans to "shift schools away from their primary function,” stating that ideological and religious studies have taken over most of the content of the school curriculum, even science, causing students to lose interest in the subject.