February 19, 2011
The funeral of Saneh Jaleh, the Kurdish student who was killed from a gunshot wound by government agents during February 14 protests, ended up in violence at the hands of regime agents.
After his killing, government supporters and state run media claimed Saneh Jaleh was a “basij” member and blamed his death on “hypocrites.” They announced that his funeral would take place adjacent to University of Art in Tehran, at ValiAsr Square at 9:30am Wednesday morning.
According to RAHANA, the news publication of Human Rights House of Iran, Tehran University of Art students had announced that they would be at the university for the funeral of their friend, but when they arrived they were fiercely attacked by government affiliated groups. Government agents forcefully confined the students to the school’s amphitheater. They confronted the students with brutality and did not let them join the funeral procession.
Starting early in the morning hundreds of buses were seen with logos from the Army Corps, Defense Ministry, Imam Hossein University, Disciplinary Ministry, plainclothes agents and basij units. The agents were dropped off at Valiasr Square in Tehran and they took over the surrounding blocks enclosing the entire Honar University area.
According to reports, these forces arrived in order to prevent the students and teachers of the University of Art from attending the funeral of their martyred friend. Military agents and basij members violently confronted a large number of students then confined them to the school halls. The basij units lined up and barricaded the students, blocking their movement while singing slogans and antagonizing them in an attempt to cause a violent outbreak.
Gooya news reported the following; “starting at 8am a number of buses arrived. Some of the buses moving towards the university had military plaques and were escorted by private cars that had the writing ‘Special Forces of the Revolutionary Guards’ on them. Traffic units had completely closed down Valiasr Square with the placement of a large crane. They did not allow any cars, taxis or public buses to enter Vali Asr Square in the northern direction. A large number of Special Forces were stationed with full military gear and equipment covering the sidewalks and areas surrounding all four corners of Vali Asr square. The whole area was completely deserted and there was no movement except for government agents on motorcycles. They were carrying pictures of the head and leader of the Islamic Republic while chanting government slogans to an empty street.”
A number of students were arrested after today’s conflict. So far, Daneshjoo News has reported Kourosh Khan Mohammadi, Hassan Fatahizadeh, Vahid Nosrati, Abbas Salehi, Abdollah Ranjir, Faraz Sarabi, Amir Binazir, and 4 others are among those arrested.