A/HRC/22/56 Table 5 69. Citing statistics based on information gathered from news sources, the Commission maintains that, since March 2005, there have been at least 945 cases of students deprived of continuing education for either one or more semesters, and at least 41 cases of professors expelled from university. Of the 986 reported cases, more than 140 cases applied solely to Allameh Tabataba’i University (14 professors and 57 students), headed by Sadreddin Shariati, and Amirkabir Polytechnic University of Tehran (72 students), headed by Alireza Rahaei. Moreover, three student publications or associations have been forcibly closed. 70. Individuals interviewed for the present report maintained that they had been denied access to universities despite achieving high scores on university entrance examinations for higher degrees, because of their political activities. One top-ranking political science student, for example, reported having been denied entrance to a Masters degree programme until a pledge to abstain from student activism for the duration of studies was signed. The person was later denied access to PhD studies, alleging having been informed that the Ministry of Intelligence had placed that person’s name on a list of students banned from continuing their education. 71. The Special Rapporteur is also concerned at allegations that university professors in the field of humanities continue to be expelled for their views (see table 6 below). The Minister for Science and Technology, Kamran Daneshjoo, reportedly asserted that professors uncommitted to velayat–e faqih (guardianship of the Islamic jurist) or who have a “secular or liberal-democracy point of view” are not needed in the Islamic Republic of Iran.70 One professor reported having been subjected to immense pressure from the head of the university to prove devotion to Islamic values and the Iranian State by demanding that the professor join daily prayers at the university. Refusal to cooperate was reportedly followed by death threats from the Ministry of Intelligence, which informed the professor that refusal to cooperate with the Islamic guidelines of the university would lead to the professor being “expelled, killed and buried in an undisclosed grave”. The professor also reported that 12 colleagues had been expelled or forced into early retirement for alleged non-cooperation with the Islamic guidelines of the university in the past five years. 70 http://old.isna.ir/ISNA/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-1495708. 21