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Keyan Keshavarz

Abdollah Momeni, who currently serves on the central committee of the Advar-e Tahkim ‎‎(student) Organization, has been imprisoned several times for his human rights related activism. ‎He was arrested last summer after security forces stormed the offices of the Advar-e Tahkim ‎Organization in Tehran. Momeni lost about 30 pounds while in custody, and became very ill. ‎What happened to Momemi in prison that caused such a drastic weight lost and sickness is still a ‎topic of debate among human rights activists. Momeni has chosen to remain silent, but has ‎agreed to speak to Rooz about human rights violations in Iran. Below is an excerpt of his ‎exclusive talk with Rooz. ‎

In his interview with Rooz, Momeni recounts several instances of human rights violations in ‎Iran: "Violators of human rights in Iran are organized in such a manner that those responsible are ‎able to suppress any attempt at reform by civil activists in the social sphere."‎

Momeni's analysis of the condition of human rights in Iran starts with the university. He views ‎students to be at the forefront in the struggle against authoritarianism: "In the past two years, ‎government officials and security organizations have not shied away from using any measure to ‎oppress student activists and terrorize students in order to extinguish the university's voice as the ‎main breeding ground for political and social reform." ‎

In Momeni’s words, "A pre-written scenario is being carried out to oppress and terrorize the ‎student movement."‎

The spokesperson for the Advar-e Tahkim adds, "With utmost disappointment, presidents that ‎are appointed by the administration to head universities, have themselves joined the front lines in ‎the oppression of students, rather than defending the rights of students and protecting them ‎against pressure from the outside." ‎

Momeni also condemns the suspended imprisonment sentences that are issued for many activists, ‎dismissing them as a Damocles sword hanging over the heads of social and political activists in ‎an effort to terrorize and pacify them. ‎

On the recent faculty firings enmasse, Momeni compared them to similar acts during the days of ‎the so-called cultural revolution, in early 1980s, brought about by the security apparatus's hatred ‎for student activists. ‎

But Momeni clarifies that "These unprecedented and vengeful measures to terrorize and threaten ‎student activists have had had no effect on the student movement body. The student's united ‎protest against the presence of Ahmadinejad at the Polytechnic University and, less than a year ‎later, at the Tehran University points to the courage of the student movement body as the most ‎important freedom-seeking element in society." ‎

Social freedoms are among the issues that Iranian political activists are less concerned about. ‎While condemning the minimalist views of various political groups in Iran with respect to ‎personal, political and social freedom, Momeni condemns the police force's actions in recent ‎months. He also calls on Iran to ratify the international convention against death penalty: "Our ‎expectation is for the Iranian government to stand by its international obligations with respect to ‎observing and protecting human rights." ‎