A/HRC/19/66 released on $100,000 bail after a month. The witness was summoned after two months and was formally charged with propaganda against the system. E. Students 56. The Special Rapporteur is disturbed by reports of violations of students‟ rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly (see annex, section B). He is also concerned by reports of students being deprived of their right to education on the basis of their political and student activities critical of Government or university policies. Ali Nezeri, a student activist, described the use of university disciplinary committees to punish students for their political activities on and off campus. He claimed that disciplinary procedure was often breached and that the fate of students was decided by external bodies. Mr Nezeri reported that he was summoned twice by the committee at his university; once for his activities with the Islamic Student Association, and once for protesting against the university‟s lack of safety standards after two students died in university dorms from carbon monoxide poisoning. 57. The Special Rapporteur received a number of reports regarding the arrest of Rozhin Mohammadi, a medical student at Manila Medical School of the Philippines, on 14 November 2011 at Imam Khomeini Airport in Tehran. According to sources (wishing to remain anonymous), Ms Mohammadi was visiting family when arrested. She was reportedly released the following day after posting bail. Following her release, security forces raided her father‟s home and confiscated her personal belongings. She was rearrested on 23 November 2011 and taken to Evin Prison. It is feared that Ms Mohammadi might be subjected to solitary confinement and other forms of abuse and torture. There has been no news about her since her arrest, and her family and defence counsel have been denied visiting rights. 58. In a letter to the Special Rapporteur, the Human Rights Commission of Daftar Tahkim Vahdat stressed the important contribution that student organizations and their members make to improving academic life and to defending student and human rights. The peaceful efforts of students – including the hosting of lectures and the publication of articles – are often met with punitive university or Government measures. Citing statistics on the treatment of student activists based on information gathered from news sources, the Commission maintains that, since March 2009, there have been 436 arrests, 254 convictions and 364 cases of deprivation of education. Moreover, 144 students have been summoned by the judiciary, and 13 student publications have been forcibly closed. The Commission also gave the names of 32 student activists currently in prison for their activities. F. Unrecognized religious communities 59. The Special Rapporteur continues to be alarmed by communications that demonstrate the systemic and systematic persecution of members of unrecognized religious communities, particularly the Baha‟i community, in violation of international conventions. Moreover, the Government‟s tolerance of an intensive defamation campaign meant to incite discrimination and hate against Baha‟is violates its obligations as set out in article 5 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. According to one report, 440 instances of slanderous speech against Baha‟is were published 17

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