Syed Zafar Mehdi
03 October 2022•Update: 03 October 2022
TEHRAN
In-person classes at a premier public research university in Iran have been suspended following on-campus protests over the death of an Iranian woman in police custody.
The classes at the Sharif University of Technology will be held virtually from Monday until further notice, the university administration announced in a statement on Monday.
It said the movement of doctoral students on the campus will be unhindered while the movement of post-graduate students will be subject to the approval of their application through the university portal.
It comes after intense clashes between students and police on the university campus amid protests over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last month.
Amini was detained by the country's morality police for alleged violation of the Islamic dress code. Her family claims she was beaten which caused her cardiac arrest. Police have rejected the claim.
Security forces had locked the university campus in Tehran with many students trapped inside, according to reports.
They were released on Sunday evening after the country's education minister visited the campus and spoke to students.
Demonstrations have been reported at several universities in recent days in major Iranian cities including Tehran, Isfahan, Kermanshah, Tabriz, and Shiraz with students demanding justice for Amini.
The Sharif University of Technology is considered the leading higher education institution for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields in the country.
