CODIR is alarmed by the numerous reports of Islamic Republic security forces converging upon several university campuses, notably Sharif University in Tehran, which point towards a major onslaught by the regime on protesters being at least imminent if not already underway.

As the light of the afternoon of Sunday 2 October began to fade, large numbers of Ali Khamenei’s special forces militia were observed on motorcycles moving towards and surrounding the campus of Sharif University, traditionally a hotbed of opposition to the regime.

Besieged students issued desperate appeals for help and large crowds of friends, relatives, and ordinary people tried in vain to assist and gathered outside the university where they chanted against the growing numbers of regime police and militiamen massing on the scene.

Under Iranian law, the police or armed forces are prohibited from entering university campuses. However, several pieces of footage appear to show the assembled regime forces not only ignoring the rule but sending in Basij (Mobilisation) paramilitaries to attack students.

Several clips circulating online show students being chased, apprehended, and severely beaten, while the sound of gunfire is also detectable in the background of footage taken in the vicinity of the campus. Students were shown in restraints and blindfolds being taken away.

The regime militia then began to scour the Sharif dormitories for any student they could find. At 21:00 (local time), the Student Union Council stated that several students were taken during these raids and forced into vans outside. The fate of the students remains unclear.

At around 23:30, the president of Sharif University told state news agencies that the disturbances were over, all students had left the campus, and the only ones remaining were those undertaking laboratory research. However, dozens of students have been reported as missing.

Similar situations unfolded elsewhere, notably at the University of Science and Technology (Tehran) where dormitories were also violently raided, as the regime seemingly made a concerted move to quell the protest centres taking shape in Iran’s restive university campuses.

CODIR unequivocally condemns yet another brutal onslaught by the ruling theocratic dictatorship upon the university students of Iran as well as transgression against the sanctity and inviolability of the university campuses.

CODIR calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all those detained during the onslaught on universities, all those detained in the course of the popular protests that have followed the killing of Mahsa Amini, and all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.