Iran university expels six students over alleged protest roles

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Iran’s top engineering university has expelled six students over their alleged involvement in anti-government protests earlier this year, local media reported.

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What began in December as cost-of-living protests escalated into anti-establishment demonstrations across the country that peaked in January, though smaller rallies continued on campuses in the weeks that followed.

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“The Disciplinary Committee of Sharif University of Technology, in separate preliminary rulings, expelled six students for their alleged roles in the unrest of February,” Fars news agency reported.

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According to Fars, the students were accused of leading illegal gatherings, using insulting language, engaging in activities against the Islamic republic and committing other disciplinary violations.

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It was not clear whether the students also face charges before Iran’s criminal or revolutionary courts.

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The agency said they had been accused of displaying and promoting the Lion and Sun emblem, which appeared on Iran’s flag before the 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled US-backed leader Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.

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The symbol is widely used by opponents of the Islamic republic, including supporters of exiled prince Reza Pahlavi.

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The anti-government protests in January were met with what foreign rights groups describe as a crackdown that killed thousands, but Iranian authorities have blamed the violence on “terrorists” working for the United States and Israel.

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AFP

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