Behrouz Chamanara, a professor at Kurdistan University in western Iran, has been dismissed following a directive from the Ministry of Intelligence as officials continue to attack academics for their support of protests over the death of a young woman in police custody for allegedly wearing her head scarf improperly.
The Student Guild Councils of Iran said on its Telegram channel that Chamanara's removal came after the Kurdistan Intelligence Office rejected his qualifications to serve as a faculty member. Consequently, the university administrators terminated his employment based on the office's letter.
Chamanara confirmed the news by sharing an image of a letter addressed to Hamed Ghaderzadeh, the president of Kurdistan University.
In the letter, Chamanara explained that despite submitting two files regarding employment status conversion and contract extension to the university's recruitment committee at the end of the Iranian calendar year, his request for an extension was declined for reasons unrelated to academic or university matters.
Chamanara faced detention by security forces on November 26 following a statement read by Kurdistan University professors on the university premises. He was released eight days later after posting bail.
As the first anniversary of the start of the protests sparked by Masha Amini's death on September 16 approaches and a new academic year begins, the authorities have made clear that they will not tolerate a repeat of the type of student demonstrations that have shaken universities across Iran over the past 12 months.
In recent weeks, officials have warned that students and educators will be under increased scrutiny, and there has been a wave of professors being removed from their positions.
Most appear to have been fired for allegedly supporting student protests related to Amini's death and against the requirement that all women over the age of 9 wear the hijab, or hair-covering head scarf.
On August 29, at least 10 professors were fired, some of them by telephone, in what student unions have described as a "new innovation in suppressing and dismissing university professors."
Universities have historically been a battleground in the fight for social and political reforms in Iran.
During the Islamic Revolution of 1979, university students played a prominent role, including the occupation of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. After the clerics came to power, the authorities instigated a mass purge of Iranian universities, firing hundreds of professors and altering curriculums to promote Islamic values.
Since the revolution, university students have voiced their opposition to the clerical establishment, including during a 1999 protest against the closure of a reformist newspaper, resulting in a raid on a dormitory at Tehran University that left one student dead.
The protests against Amini's death in September 2022 led to renewed pressure against students, specifically female students who failed to comply with the hijab law.