Human rights group protests "Iran's purge of professors"

Saba Vasefi - Morteza Mardiha

International campaign for Human Rights in Iran announced that the Islamic Republic's dismissal of prominent university professors on political grounds is a violation of their human rights.

Morteza Mardiha, Aliasghar Beheshti, Mohammad Shahri and Saba Vasefi are four professors that have been dismissed in recent months which according to the International Campaign for Human Rights is part of an ongoing campaign to clear the universities of faculty members who have different view points, or have supported students during the protests.

Following a call by Iran’s Minister of Science and Technology to clear Iranian universities from professors that do not subscribe to “the principle of velayat-faqih (rule of an expert member of the clergy)”, scores of university faculty members have been dismissed or forced into early retirement.

Aaron Rhodes, a spokesman for the Campaign said: “Iran’s purge of professors expressing independent views is an assault in their basic human rights and on academic freedom.” He added: “These policies will further politicize and debase Iran’s universities, long a source of national pride and admiration by scholars around the world.”

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran urges an immediate review of all the recent university dismissals.

The Campaign also calls on all university professors and staff in the international community to express their solidarity with their Iranian colleagues in condemning these unjust dismissals.