MONDAY, 23 MAY 2011
HRANA News Agency – Following the investigations and trials to determine what happened during a state-sponsored attack on the dormitories of Tehran University on June 14, 2009, various verdicts ranging from prison term to fines have been issued. However, these verdicts are all against students objecting to these attacks. So far, several students of Tehran University have been sentenced to a total of ten years in prison in relation to the on-going trails.
According to a report by Daneshjoo News Agency, Judge Farati presided over a military court held by Armed Forces Judicial Organization in order to try and punish the perpetrators of attacks on the dormitories of Tehran University. During these proceedings, four students have been sentenced to serve time in prison and also pay a fine. On May 9, 2011, Iran’s Attorney General also announced that verdicts against 40 individuals in relation to these trials have been issued. So far, only student activists and victims of these attacks have faced punishment and were arrested by Armed Forces Judicial Organization.
Daneshjoo News Agency has reported that Avat Rezenia, a Kurdish PhD student in Communications Studies, has been charged with disturbing the peace and public order and sentenced to three months suspended prison term and also 74 lashes which may be substituted by $3,000 fine. Additionally, Habib Farhzadi has been sentenced to ten months in prison with five months suspended term for a period of four years and 74 lashes which may be substituted by $500 fine. These rulings are preliminary and may be appealed and overturned within 21 days.
Meanwhile, there has been no report of verdicts against the perpetrators of dormitory attacks, and only students who objected to these raids have been punished.
On June 14, 2009, after the presidential elections in Iran, plainclothes agents together with the riot police and the Special Units of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps attacked the dormitories of Tehran University and arrested more than 100 students. Additionally, during the last two years while a military court of Armed Forces Judicial Organization has been conducting formal investigations into these attacks, students have been summoned and arrested numerous times.