Students in Iran continue protests over 19-year-old’s murder on campus for second day

Students in Iran continued to protest the fatal robbery of a 19-year-old student on campus last week on Saturday. 

Amir Mohammad Khaleghi, 19, a business student at Tehran University, was killed in a robbery near a campus dormitory on Wednesday, sparking protests on Friday. 

The protesters are accusing school officials of failing to keep students safe on campus, according to local media. 

The demonstrators clashed with police on Friday near where Khaleghi was killed outside a university dormitory by two unknown robbers. 

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He later died in a hospital.  

The protesters shouted things like “Shame on you!,” “University security is a tool of the IRGC [Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps], you are our murderers!”, and “The blood that has been spilled can never be erased!”

Amid the outcry, Iran’s vice-president, Mohammad Reza Aref, ordered an “immediate” investigation into Khaleghi’s death. 

Hossein Sarraf, Iran’s Minister of Science, Research, and Technology also warned protesters that “university issues must not extend beyond campus. Those who enter unlawfully will face severe consequences, and there will be no leniency in this matter,” according to the state-run ISNA news agency. 

The protest was not politically motivated, but demonstrations in the country can sometimes lead to political unrest under the harsh regime.

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Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) wrote on X on Friday: “Salutes to the students of the University of Tehran who, in protest against the brutal murder of one of their peers, raised their voices with the powerful chant, ‘A student dies, but does not accept humiliation.’”

She added, “The perpetrators of this insecurity are either the Revolutionary Guards and suppressive forces themselves, or the result of the regime’s anti-people policies, which prioritize maintaining its power through the harshest oppression, with no regard for the safety or welfare of the people. I call on my fellow citizens to stand in solidarity with the students who today have declared that silence is no longer an option. Indeed, the university is the fortress of freedom and must fulfill its historic role.”

Protests ignited three years ago at universities across the country after a 22-year-old woman died in custody after she was detained for allegedly not wearing her headscarf correctly. 

The protests lasted for months, ending only after a security crackdown in which 500 people died and more than 22,000 were detained.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.