SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project investigates and reports attacks on higher education with the aim of raising awareness, generating advocacy, and increasing protection for scholars, students, and academic communities. Starting July 1, 2026, SAR no longer publishes reports for the incidents that it records. SAR continues to monitor and record incidents that will be used in the annual Free to Think report. This page provides a record of incidents reported up to that date. Learn more about the Academic Freedom Monitoring Project.
Results
On May 11, 2026, Iranian authorities executed Erfan Shakourzadeh, a 29-year-old satellite technology researcher, and aerospace engineering post-graduate student at Iran University of Science and Technology. Members of the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) arrested Shakourzadeh in ...
Around May 5, 2026, the University of Tehran suspended Amirmohammad Karimi, a polymer engineering student, for two semesters for allegedly burning Iran’s flag. Iranian security forces had arrested Karimi two weeks before his suspension. He was unable to attend his disciplinary ...
On February 1-2, 2026, Iranian security forces arrested Pedram Alamdari, editor-in-chief of Yol, a student publication, and Somayeh Heydari, a member of Yol’s editorial board. Both are also physics students at the University of Tabriz. Authorities also confiscated their mobile phones ...
On January 4, 2026, security forces locked students protesting at Tarbiat Modares University on their campus, apparently to prevent them from engaging in public protests. The students had gathered at Tarbiat Modares University's central library and marched toward the university’s main ...
On December 31, 2025, Iranian police arrested Sarireh Karimi, a University of Tehran law student, the student representative of the Faculty of Law and Political Science, and secretary of the Student Council, during a raid on her home. The University of ...
On December 31, 2025, Iranian security forces and plainclothes agents raided the women's dormitory of Shahid Beheshti (Melli) University, detaining several women students. Students at Shahid Beheshti University held a nighttime gathering and demonstration within the dormitory compound in support of ...
On December 30, 2025, Iranian security forces arrested five students while they were nonviolently protesting at the University of Tehran in support of the nationwide movement calling for political change. According to student Telegram channels, security forces arrested undergraduate students Mobin ...
On November 3, 2025, Iranian security forces detained economist Parviz Sedaghat in apparent retaliation for public comments that he made about the Iranian economy and government. In addition to arresting him, Iranian forces searched Sedaghat’s home and seized his electronic ...
On November 3, 2025, Iranian security forces confiscated the belongings of Mohammed Maljoo and summoned him for questioning in apparent retaliation for public comments that he made about the roots of extremism in Iran. Maljoo’s whereabouts were publicly unknown after ...
On November 3, 2025, Iranian security forces detained sociologist Mahsa Asadollahnejad. Asadollahnejad earned her doctorate in political sociology from Tarbiat Modares University. Her research and writing has focused on topics including the formation of the Islamic Republic of Iran from 1979 ...