Forough Taghipour, a political prisoner currently held in Tehran’s Evin Prison, has issued a message on the occasion of Student Day, underscoring the historic and ongoing role of Iran’s student movement in the struggle for freedom and justice.
“On December 7, 1953, while colonial powers, reactionary forces, and their eternal allies were celebrating the overthrow of the national government and preparing to welcome U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon to Iran, students at the University of Tehran rose up in protest. Following the Shah’s direct order to open fire, three young students were killed at the Faculty of Engineering. With their blood spilled in the classroom, they announced to the world that the university is not only a bastion of knowledge, but a fortress of resistance.”
According to Forough Taghipour, “Iran’s universities remain a symbol of dignity for the nation, shaped by the uprisings of 2017-2018, 2019, and 2022, and students have continued to defend the university as a frontline of struggle for a society free of exploitation and class oppression.”
Citing the words of Mr. Massoud Rajavi, she notes that the university “ceased to be merely a university the moment those three students were martyred; it became a sanctified place, an altar of freedom.”
Today’s students maintain a deep connection with resistance networks and, following the path of the three slain students, Ghandchi, Bozorg-Nia, and Shariat-Razavi, continue to keep “the flame of resistance alight in every alleyway across Iran.” She emphasizes that this struggle will continue “until the complete overthrow of tyranny in this land,” a responsibility they carry “as a sacred trust, paying its price at any cost.”
Who is Forough Taghipour?
Forough Taghipour, 31, holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and has been serving a five-year sentence in Evin Prison since August 2023. She was initially sentenced to 15 years on charges of baghy-e (armed rebellion) and alleged membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), but the sentence was reduced on appeal.
She was previously arrested in February 2020 on charges of “assembly and collusion” and “propaganda against the state,” receiving a five-year sentence that she served until February 2023. Only months after her release, she was arrested again in August 2023 and is currently held in the women’s ward of Evin Prison.