American Writers Group Condemns Arrest Of Iranian Singer
PEN America, an organization that defends writers, journalists and protects freedom of artistic expression, has condemned the arrest of Iranian musician Mehdi Yarrahi.
PEN America, an organization that defends writers, journalists and protects freedom of artistic expression, has condemned the arrest of Iranian musician Mehdi Yarrahi.
In a statement released online, the organization called for Yarrahi’s immediate release and for all charges to be dropped against him.
Yarrahi was arrested after the release of his song ‘Your Headscarf’, a poignant critique of Iran's enduring mandatory hijab policy.
Simultaneously, the Iranian government announced a ban on "cultural activists" who they considered to be “acting against the nation's interests” including female artists and actors who remove their hijabs.
“These bans carried out against cultural activists serve as a grim reminder of the Iranian government’s continued campaign to suppress any artistic expression that dares to challenge the status quo.
The legal action taken against Mehdi Yarrahi is indicative of the Iranian regime’s systematic, brutal repression of democratic free expression. We stand in solidarity with Iran’s artists and cultural workers defending fundamental rights and freedoms, and demand that all charges against Yarrahi be dropped,” said Julie Trebault, director of Artists at Risk Connection.
Yarrahi's arrest is the latest development in a series of repressive measures imposed by the Iranian government, coinciding with the approaching one-year anniversary of the death of Amini, in police custody following her arrest for not wearing the mandatory headscarf.
Earlier this month, Iranian filmmaker Saeed Roustayi was sentenced to six months in prison for screening his award-winning film Leila’s Brothers at the Cannes Film Festival. Other prominent figures such as political rapper Toomaj Salehi and actress Taraneh Alidoosti have also faced persecution for their involvement in the September 2022 protests.
PEN America’s latest Freedom to Write Index — an annual count of writers in prison worldwide — found that Iran is the largest jailer of women writers globally.
News of the ongoing purge angered the public after Professor Ali Sharifi-Zarchi announced on X on August 26 that Sharif University of Technology had expelled him.
Sharifi-Zarchi, a member of the bioinformatics and AI Faculty of the university's computer engineering department, supported dissident students during the months-long nationwide protests sparked by Mahsa Amini's death in custody on September 16 last year.
In the past few days, the university has also invited three hardliner figures, including Amir-Hossein Sabeti, a television presenter, to teach Islamic subjects at the university.
Observers say the dismissal of dissident professors may be a preemptive move to reduce the chances of campus protests on the first anniversary of Amini's death.
Iran’s former nuclear chief Ali-Akbar Salehi, who is also the deputy head of the Academy of Sciences of the Islamic Republic of Iran, spoke to the reformist Jamaran news website about Sharifi-Zarchi's expulsion on Monday. He said the academic level of universities will deteriorate due to the "mass injection" of unqualified academicians replacing the expelled professors. "It can no longer be called a university!" he exclaimed.
Salehi added that he had tried to contact the university's chancellor and had sent messages to him, stating that decisions of such sensitivity should be made with tolerance and careful consideration, even if Sharifi-Zarchi had not fully abided by some of the university's rules and regulations, as they claim.
In the past couple of days, at least ten university professors from Sharif, Allameh Tabatabai, and Tehran universities were either sacked or suspended. In April, nine professors from Tehran Azad University, who had openly criticized the regime and its policies, were similarly purged through forced early retirement.
According to the reformist Etemad newspaper, from 2006 to the end of August 2023, 157 tenured professors have been dismissed, forced into retirement, or banned from teaching due to their critical and dissenting views, as part of a broader initiative to cleanse universities of critics of the hardline establishment.
During the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-2013), who was closely aligned with hardliners, the regime also attempted to employ professors who were ideologically aligned with the hardline and religious establishment.
The intensification of the purge appears to have caused delays in the start of the academic term in some universities, with several institutions potentially resorting to online lectures.
Ameneh Aali, a psychology professor at Allameh Tabatabai University, who is among those sacked, told the Didban-e Iran news website on Saturday that she was informed of her expulsion over the phone and was not provided a reason for the termination of her contract with the university.
She asserted that she was dismissed because she had signed statements supporting protesting students last year, participated in their sit-ins, and objected to the suspension of students.
While the Ministry of Higher Education has not commented on the issue, the Interior Ministry released a statement on Monday describing criticism of the expulsion of academics as "media propaganda" and asserting that the Higher Education Ministry had taken "revolutionary action."
The Interior Ministry's statement also accused the sacked professors, who had opposed the crackdown on students and supported those who were arrested or suspended, of "political immorality and media show-off," and of "defiling" the academic arena with their "factional and even anti-national views."
In a statement on Sunday, the National Union of Iranian University Professors criticized the "profuse meddling" of security bodies in academic affairs and warned about the "gradual decline" of universities.
