Eight Student Editors and Activists Arrested in Iran
Reuters reports that Human Rights Watch is demanding immediate release of eight student editors and activists arrested in Iran. They say that the students were arrested because, allegedly, they made defamatory comments against Islam in their university student paper.
Meanwhile the spokesman for Iranian Judiciary Alireza Jamshidi has reportedly said that those who were arrested were not students.
The eight students from Amir Kabir University are said to be in a solitary confinement in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. Human Rights Watch says that they are at high risk of being tortured and abused. They were arrested by the agents of the Information Ministry between May 3 and June 6.
The students have all denied the charges and claim that they have been framed. They are denied access to a lawyer or family members.
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human rights Watch is quoted in the Reuters report as, “Even the Judiciary has admitted that these students had nothing to do with the forged publications. The government unleashed this crackdown just as the university prepared for student elections.”
Reference: Reuters Reports on Iran