University Cemeteries in Iran
The Iranian administration started
again to try new methods in order to keep the universities
in the country under control. The latest example of these
methods is to transform the university campuses into the
martyr cemeteries. In fact, it is not a new project. The
administration has been working on this idea since a couple
of years. In a report appeared on March 2006 in the web page
of the “Coordination Committee of Student Movement for the
Democracy in Iran”, the first steps of this project were
mentioned. According to the planning of the administration,
the bones and relics belonging to the martyrs of Iraq-Iran
war will be buried in the cemeteries formed within the
university.
The reformist university students
reacted severely to this plan. In the last February, many
protests were organized in Amir Kabir University in Tehran
with the participation of many students. During these
events, anti-regime slogans were shouted and some skirmishes
occurred occasionally due to the intervention of security
forces and almost 100 students were detained. It is stated
that 30 of these students were then arrested and put in Evin
prison in Tehran.
There are rumors saying that this
project of cemetery is designed to allow Bassij forces to
enter in the universities easily under the cover of visit
and to establish control over the students. Meanwhile, the
experts indicate that the demonstrations held in Amir Kabir
University represent the biggest student protest in the
country since Ahmedinajad took the office. There are
concerns about what kind of reaction would these
developments, which occurred in the period of coming
presidential elections, cause in the people, who suffer from
the oppressive measures of the administration as well as the
economic problems.
