Fifteen Iranian students have disappeared after clashes with police at the University of Tehran, according to Ali Nikusebti, a leader of Iran's largest students' organisation, Tahkim Vahdat. "We have no news of our classmates since last night" when the clashes occurred, Nikusebti told Adnkronos International (AKI) on Wednesday. "Officially no student has been arrested and we fear that the 15 are being held by the secret services or by fundamentalists acting under police protection," said the students' leader.
The clashes occurred after students - around 30 according to Iran's official IRNA news agency - protested in front of the dormitories of the University of Tehran against the new dean, Omid Zanjani. The government has recently named the cleric as rector - a choice rejected by the students who are asking for his resignation.
Students at the University of Tehran also said in a statement that they mean to commemorate the anniversary of the 1999 insurrection. In July 1999 thousands of students demonstrated in Tehran after the government shut down reformist paper Salam. |