Tehran University Students' Revolt Against Arbitrariness

On February 14, reports began circulating on social media about a surge in student protests in Tehran, the capital of Iran. Although their scale is currently not significant, protests at universities in the Islamic Republic have often served as an impetus for dynamic social transformations within the authoritarian regime. Today, we will briefly share what is currently known about the protests in Tehran.

The events began to unfold at the University of Tehran, the oldest and most prestigious higher education institution in the republic. It all started with a tragedy when, on Wednesday, February 12, Amir Mohammad Khalegi , a 19-year-old student studying in the business management program, was returning to his dormitory. According to his father, it was the boy's first day at work. He had a smartphone and a laptop with him. Suddenly, two men approached him and tried to steal the boy's belongings. Amir began to resist, a fight broke out, during which the attackers took out a knife and inflicted several injuries on the student. After that, two street robbers fled the scene of the attack on a motorcycle. Amir was hospitalized and he later died in the hospital.

The news of the murder shook the students. They immediately began discussing the situation among themselves and contacting the administration about the crime, but this led to nothing. The indignation over the administration's passivity in the face of students' security issues grew, especially since two months before the murder, male and female students had pointed out the lack of security at the back entrance of the dormitory, which the general director of Tehran University dormitories, Mohammad Zare Chahoki , had ignored. The director himself is known for his harsh disciplinary measures against students living in the dormitories. The accumulated anger at the inaction and arbitrariness of the administration has pushed the affected students to self-organize.

On Friday evening, February 14, male and female students gathered for a protest demanding security on campus. They planned the action to take place in the form of a night sit-in at the entrance to the dormitory. The protesters headed to the entrance of the men's dormitory, where they learned that the university's security service had blocked the entrance with a chain, forming two protest groups: inside the dormitory and at the entrance. According to the participants, one of the students tried to enter the dormitory, after which a plainclothes law enforcement officer hit her in the chest and dragged her in an unknown direction.

The situation became increasingly tense. The number of protesters and masked security forces increased. At the event, attended by about 1,000 students, participants delivered a speech in which they stressed: “The lives of Iran’s children do not matter to you!” Students demanded the resignation of the university leadership due to their “incompetence” and failure to ensure security on campus. Student slogans included:

“One of us is missing, who is responsible?”

“Nothing can wash away the blood that has been shed.”

The situation escalated when security forces attacked several protesters, robbing them of their personal belongings and arresting at least two protesters, after which students began openly shouting slogans against the Islamic Republic, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps). After a few hours of protest, it emerged that the arrested protesters had been released. The action lasted for several hours. Later, the acting rector of Tehran University, Hossein Hosseini , joined the student protests and expressed his condolences: "We are all very emotional now, but starting tomorrow, the demands must be presented carefully and expertly, with the participation of student representatives." Despite this, the rector did not allow the plainclothes security forces to leave the campus, arguing that there was no force that could prevent provocations. Eventually, the action ended, but the movement did not die down.

On February 15, residents of Tehran university dormitories gathered again to protest in front of the university library. A few hours before, the dormitory officials had announced their resignation. Currently, according to the latest reports, it is known that the Vice President of Tehran University for Student Affairs attended the protest and gave a speech, but he failed to convince the students to end the protest. Although the protests are not large-scale, it should be remembered that the protests that broke out in September 2022 nationwide were also not large-scale. Before the murder of Kurdish student Mahsa Amini , many small protests have taken place. Iranian authorities and security forces are doing their best to avoid the outbreak of a wave of protests like the one in 2022, when the regime was shaken. In general, Iranian universities have a high potential for protests. For example, it was students who became one of the main forces of the 1979 revolution against the Shah, as well as the driving force behind the anti-government protests of 1999.

We will continue to monitor the situation around the University of Tehran, but we can already say that the past achievements of Iran’s democratic and progressive movements and organizations are forcing the authoritarian theocratic regime to reckon with the people. A relatively small movement has already succeeded in obtaining resignations within the university administration, and it seems that the student body has no intention of stopping there, even despite the brutal and repressive nature of its far-right government.

February 20, 2025

Priama Diia, Ukrainian student union