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Board of Die Junge Akademie condemns violence at universities in Iran
Ad hoc statement
The Board of Die Junge Akademie strongly condemns the excessive violence against peacefully demonstrating students, academics and staff on the Sharif University of Technology campus in Iran's capital Tehran last weekend. We clearly oppose infringements of the rights to freedom of expression, academic freedom, and discrimination of any kind.
Our full solidarity is with the students and academics in Iran who are currently standing up for fundamental democratic rights and freedom at many universities and educational institutions in the country despite the threat to life and limb.
We urge the scientific community in Germany and Iran to stand together in opposition to violence and to speak out for equality and freedom of expression.
“Raising weapons of any kind to silence students and university faculty members cannot be justified by anything. The Iranian government must immediately stop the violence and respond to the demands for reforms and civil rights that have been raised throughout the country,” says Simon Wolfgang Fuchs, an Islamic scholar at the University of Freiburg and member of the Board of Die Junge Akademie.