Mahdi Khoei, a renowned Iranian sociology professor at Tehran’s Allameh University, says he has been expelled from the university after he supported nationwide protests that swept across the country following the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody.
In an Instagram post on August 17, Khoei said he was dismayed at the move after teaching at the school for seven years.
"I am Mahdi Khoei, a sociology teacher at Allameh University. I've never bowed to any pressure, remained committed only to my students and the wider public. Now, after seven years, I've been handed a termination letter," he wrote.
Many Iranian university professors have faced expulsion for their support of the nationwide protests, while others have already been pushed from their jobs, including several professors at the University of Art in Tehran who were ousted earlier this month.
Anger over Amini's death in September 2022 has prompted thousands of Iranians to take to the streets to demand more freedoms and women's rights.
Numerous protests have been held at universities, particularly in Tehran, where many students have refused to attend classes. Protesting students have chanted "Women, life, freedom" and "Death to the dictator" at the rallies. Some female students have removed and burned their head scarves.
In the wake of his social media post, a group of students from the university's Social Sciences department released a statement protesting the expulsion, saying the university should be seen as the "beating heart of resistance against oppression."
The students said their support for Professor Khoei was "unwavering" and warned of a class boycott should unwarranted intervention in academic freedoms continue.
Their message also contained a sharp rebuke of Ardeshir Entezari, the head of the Social Sciences department at the university, whom they criticized as being a "passive figure" in the matter, and warned that if there wasn't more clarity over faculty dismissals, they may demand Entezari's resignation.
"The university is our home, not a playground for arbitrary state bullying. To take it from us, you must face its real custodians," they said in the statement.
Universities and students have long been at the forefront of the struggle for greater social and political freedoms in Iran. In 1999, students protested the closure of a reformist daily, prompting a brutal raid on the dorms of Tehran University that left one student dead.
Over the years, the authorities have arrested student activists and leaders, sentencing them to prison and banning them from studying.
The activist HRANA news agency says at least 700 university students have been arrested during the recent unrest.
Many have faced sentences such as imprisonment, flogging, and dozens of students have been expelled from universities or suspended from their studies, as security forces try to stifle widespread dissent.