Two students were expelled from Amirkabir University of Technology after the pair was accused of burning the flag of the Islamic regime, according to the university’s student newspaper.
Amir-Mohammad Karimi and Mahyar Eghtesadi, who both studied engineering at the Tehran Polytechnic, were expelled in absentia by the university’s disciplinary committee after reports surfaced that they burned the regime flag, with some sources also reporting that they waved the Lion and Sun flag from pre-Islamic Revolution Iran.
The student newspaper claimed the pair was expelled following reports by members of the Basij voluntary paramilitary force, an arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who study at the institution.
Students were expelled for 'creating chaos'
The students were expelled under the “fabricated charge” of creating chaos and disrupting the educational process, according to the Persian diaspora site Kayhan London, and it comes as universities have begun expelling students en masse.
Eight other students were reportedly issued expulsion notices at the Sharif University of Technology, 16 from the University of Science and Technology of Iran, and four from Soureh University.
A large number of students have also received temporary, but significant, suspensions from their educational institutions.
Last week, Reza Dalman, a master’s student in computer engineering at Sharif University, was sentenced to expulsion and a four-year ban from studying at all universities in the country after he hung a stuffed mouse from a tree in what was said to be an action insulting to then-Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to Iran International.