Regulations for Intensifying Actions Against Students
Regulations for intensifying actions against students, from the parliament’s proposal of fines and a 10-year travel ban for protesting students to the new disciplinary guidelines approved by the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution. The arrest of dozens of students across the country following recent protests in Iran and issuing severe sentences for some of them comes as the latest student disciplinary guidelines, signed by the Ministers of Science and Health, further threaten the life of the student movement.
It seems that students become the scapegoats during any protest event, to the extent that in 2009, after the protest events and the Green Movement, the student disciplinary regulations changed to impose stricter measures and limit student activities. However, in 2019, during Rouhani’s administration, efforts were made to change these regulations again, supporting individual and collective student rights, opening up the political space in universities, and recognizing students’ right to protest.
Rouhani’s government’s regulations were sidelined.
However, the new regulations lasted only 3 years. Now, the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution has quickly prepared and approved a new disciplinary regulation for students, as it seems the Raisi government had no interest in implementing Rouhani’s guidelines. The Deputy of Legal Affairs and Parliament of the Ministry of Science claims that the actions of university presidents in banning students from entering universities were based on the regulations approved in the 358th session on September 5, 1995, of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution.
According to this official, based on Article 7, Note 2 of the student disciplinary regulations of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, the university president is authorized to prevent a student from entering the university until their case is reviewed by the disciplinary committee. For cases referred to the central disciplinary committee for review and decision, the university president can prevent the student from entering the university for up to 2 months.
The lack of legal documentation for banning students and suspending them led students to demand their basic rights, referring to the executive guidelines of the student disciplinary regulations. However, students were told that a new directive had been sent to universities, allowing university presidents to suspend and ban students without following legal procedures.
From the Requirement of Issuing Permits to Entering Personal Domains
In the guidelines prepared during Rouhani’s government, the number of members in the initial and appellate review boards increased, more faculty members were added, and a legal member was included. Also, the requirement to obtain a permit for gatherings, which was in the 2009 disciplinary guidelines, was removed. It was announced that if a gathering was peaceful and did not cause damage or disrupt educational programs, it was not considered an offense.
However, in the new guidelines written by the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution and communicated by the Ministers of Science and Health, holding gatherings now requires a permit again, and the restrictions and punitive measures are even stricter than the 2009 guidelines. Student activities in the virtual space are also under surveillance, with 20 punitive actions listed, ranging from temporary suspension to a 5-year academic ban.
This comes despite the fact that in 2019, when the issue of dealing with student violations in virtual spaces was raised, the Ministry of Science under Rouhani’s government strongly announced that there was no intention to invade students’ personal domains. The announcement stated that one of the principles considered in drafting this guideline was not to invade students’ personal domains. It is noteworthy that no specific changes were anticipated regarding virtual spaces, and currently, disciplinary councils in universities address clear violations in virtual spaces that have a private complainant, which is not a new issue.
Academic Suspension Up to 5 Years
According to this new guideline, where the student disciplinary committee is considered the authority for addressing student violations, Articles 40 to 43 pertain to students’ political violations. Deliberate misinformation or concealment of facts regarding oneself, militant groups, corrupt individuals, or those affiliated with them includes warnings to temporary suspension from studies for one semester or from one to six months, counting the offender’s academic years. If the student continues their protest activities, they can be suspended from studies for up to one and a half to two years.
Supporting or promoting militant groups or heretical doctrines, if the activity and promotion in physical or virtual spaces are in favor of militant and anti-regime groups of the Islamic Republic of Iran or illegal dissolved groups identified as anti-regime by judicial rulings or security authorities, includes deprivation from university welfare facilities up to the maximum expulsion from the university or suspension from studies in all universities for up to 5 years.
Membership in militant, corrupt, heretical groups, or deviant sects, cooperation with foreign intelligence organizations, or membership in militant, corrupt, heretical groups identified as such by security authorities also leads to student expulsion from the university with suspension from studies in all universities for up to five years.
Insulting Islamic or national symbols and sanctities, official religions of the country, or committing acts against the Islamic Republic regime, such as using obscene language verbally or in writing through slogans, distributing flyers, and virtual spaces, leads to deprivation from university welfare facilities up to temporary suspension from studies for two semesters or from 6 to 12 months, counting the offender’s academic years. If these violations are committed collectively, it may result in the student’s expulsion from the university with suspension from studies in all universities for up to five years.
Visible violation of Islamic rulings, such as eating during fasting hours, leads to temporary suspension from studies for two semesters or from 6 to 12 months without counting the offender’s academic years, among other consequences.
