Iran's largest university student union has been under attack recently for taking an opposition stance against the government. On Dec. 30, the government shut down Kargozaran, a major daily newspaper in Iran, after it published a statement from the student group criticizing those who use the Palestinian issue as a tool to promote their own agenda. The statement condemned Israel's invasion of Gaza but, in a surprising move, it also "equally condemn[ed] the way in which terrorist groups take refuge in kindergartens and hospitals to attack the other side." Following the banning of Kargozaran and attacks on several Iranian human rights activists, the student organization published a second statement to clarify its position. Below are translated excerpts from their latest statement. They are asking for support from students worldwide.

The Tehran Revolutionary Court announced Jan. 17 that it has convicted four Iranians of involvement in a US-supported plan to overthrow the Iranian government. The court said that the four men had confessed to planning to overthrow the Iranian government in cooperation with the US State Department and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Days earlier, Iranian judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi announced the men's arrest, and said that they had received funding for the alleged coup from the administration of US President George Bush. Neither the identities of the men nor the prison sentences they were given have been released. Responding to a question on whether the US was involved in such a plan, a State Department spokesperson said such allegations were "baseless," and said that Iran was using the charges to quite political activists.

Attacks by presumed Baluch militants are reported from both the Pakistani and Iranian sides of the divided Baluchistan region. In Quetta, capital of the Pakistani province of Baluchistan, gunmen riding a motorbike sprayed a police vehicle with bullets Jan. 14, killing four officers. (AFP, Jan. 14) On Dec. 29, the Sunni militant group Jundallah carried out a suicide attack on a police station in Saravan, in the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchistan, killing four and injuring 20. Iran says the group, led by Abdolmalek Rigi, has links to al-Qaeda. (Tehran Times, NYT, Dec. 30)

Jinous Sobhani, secretary of the independent Defenders of Human Rights Center in Tehran, was detained by Iranian authorities Jan. 14, Narges Mohammadi, deputy head of the center, told Reuters. "People from the intelligence ministry arrested her on Wednesday morning," she said "They had an arrest warrant and search warrant." She said the authorities did not explain why Sobhani was detained. Sobhani is a follower of the Baha'i faith, and at least six Baha'is were arrested in Tehran that same day in raids on 11 homes. Baha'i books, literature and computers were also confiscated in the raids. (World Bulletin, Turkey, Baha'i News Service, Jan. 15)

From the International Transport Workers' Federation, Dec. 28:

Trade unionists and human rights activists are sending a strong warning signal to the international community following the detention of trade unionists by the Iranian secret police over the holiday period.

Police in Tehran raided and shut down the office of the Center for Protecting Human Rights, led by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi Dec. 21. Dozens of uniformed police and plainclothes security officials sealed the office in the raid, which came hours before the Center was to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Human Rights Day. The police presented no warrant, a witness said. At the ceremony, the Center was planning to honor a longtime political activist, Taqi Rahmani, who has spent a total of 17 years in prison since the 1979 revolution. The government banned the Center in 2006, but it has continued to operate. (NYT, Dec. 21)

Iranian students protested Dec. 7 at Tehran University, calling for political freedoms and denouncing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The protest amid heavy security was called by the radical Office to Consolidate Unity (OCU) to mark National Student Day. The official news agency IRNA, calling the OCU an "illegal splinter group," said protesters caused property damage and clashed with security personnel, adding that "Marxists" were involved. Photos from the student newspaper website (see below) showed hundreds gathered at the university, many carrying pro-democracy banners and some tearing down a metal gate. (AFP, Dec. 8; AP, Reuters, AutNews, Tehran Polytechnic, Dec. 7)

Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, a dissident cleric imprisoned since October 2006 for criticizing the Islamic Republic's system and advocating separation of religion and state in Iran, was "exiled" from Tehran's Evin Prison to another facility in the city of Yazd Nov. 24. Boroujerdi was taken away blindfolded, according to a report on the Human Rights Activists in Iran website.