Isfahan Student Movement (Final part)

Mehdi Amani Yamin
Translated by Mohammad Bagher Khoshnevisan

2016-4-10

*How did the university start its work in September 1978?

*Martial law had been declared in 9 to 11 cities of Iran including Isfahan on 8^th of September 1978. The university was opening in such atmosphere. When the university was opened, the atmosphere was not normal from the very first day. At the same time, there were less fear and horror. The terror atmosphere had been broken. The classes began and naturally, they continued shortly.

*What special thing happened in the university in September 1978?

*There was no debate about the holding of demonstrations in the university anymore. This had gone beyond the university and they were looking for to hold the demonstrations inside the society. Even I remember that the guys arranged a demonstration according to which it started from the university and then continued to Homayoun Shahr (present Khomeini Shahr) which attracted the people. This happened in 1978 but I don’t remember the exact date.

There was also another story in 1978. It was the funeral of a student who had fallen to death from a mountain. His body had been brought to Isfahan. He was also a political activist. I don’t remember whether he was a leftist or religious. Perhaps, he was a religious student since all of religious students took part in his funeral. In the Iranian student current, all had been supposed to come to Isfahan for the funeral. We were also informed and the funeral turned into a large demonstration, and SAVAK interfered. I think this happened during the martial law I mean in the first quarter of the year 1357 solar hijri (from 21^st of March to 21^st of June 1978). Some 80 to 100 students had come to take part in the funeral ceremony and many had participated from other universities. I remember that the weather got dark in the middle of the ceremony and then it was turned into a demonstration. The SAVAK interfered; some escaped and a number of students were arrested.

*Was there any shooting or violent action?

*There was no shooting. But some were arrested and after taking their student Cards away, were freed. A number of others were also arrested and taken to Isfahan’s SAVAK.

*Was anyone from Isfahan Industrial University arrested?

*Yes, for example, the late Abdi who was martyred in the war was arrested and taken to SAVAK. His Student Card had been taken from him. He was worried when he came back. He said, “I am going to be expelled again”, because he was among some 200 students who were arrested the last time. I am now sure that this happened in May 1978.

After September, the guys were supposed to go to Homayoun Shahr. They had organized a demonstration to go to Homayoun Shahr. It was a long way but the students went.

*How many students took part in the rally?

*I think some 40 to 50. But they could continue the rally until the city.

*Was there any clash with the guards?

The guards were not present in the university and the students started leaving. And if they had been informed of the rally, the students had reached to Homayoun Shahr. There, the people were added to the guys and a demonstration was shaped. After this event, this line of the university’s demonstration to Homayoun Shahr was launched and the people were joining the students. The people were coming from the city to the university since something was happening there every day. Now, the people, the merchants and the religious guys of Homayoun Shahr were coming to the university. One relation was established in this way. One spectrum of the guys was coming to Isfahan and informed of the demonstrations held in the city.  

*Had any of the students been arrested in Homayoun Shahr?

*No. nobody was arrested. Of course, the population had chanted slogans against the Shah’s regime but the police had dispersed them with batons; but nobody had harmed. This was the beginning and later, it was repeated many times.

*Do you remember anything about the details of the relation?

*Yes. Various sport classes such as wrestling and track and fields had been arranged in the university in 1978. One of the guys who joined us during the events was Mohammad Qoorchani who was martyred in the war. He was from Najaf Abad. He was a taekwondo athlete and had black melt. When he joined us, the guys asked him to come to the university and hold taekwondo class. They fixed a place for the taekwondo class. When the class was finished, he came to the dorm with the guys. He had made friends with the guys and had established friendly relations with him. Later, our relation went beyond the university. We were coming with him from Isfahan to Tehran. He owned a Paykan car by which we came to Tehran to see what was going on there. After the victory of the Islamic revolution, he was appointed as the commander of Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in Najaf Abad.  The relation of the university students with Najaf Abad, Homayoun Shahr and even with Qom was established through him. The religious guys found an extensive communication in this way.

*How were such connections established by the leftist groups?

*A spectrum of the same guys was with Mr. Lotfollah Meisami.

*So, you mean they were not leftists?

*Yes, they were religious. They were among those who had separated from Masoud Rajavi inside the prison in 1975 and had their own special current. The relation of the guys who had been freed from prison and the university had been established and other activities were shaped and other activities were also shaped in ideological and military forms such as combat trainings and so on. Ten guys of Meisami spectrum came to the university.

*Who were they?

*A lot of people. I myself was in relation with the current established with Mohammad Qoorchani. The first one from Meisami’s guys who came to the university was a person named Hassan Pagardi who had been freed from prison. He was in prison from 1973 to 1978. We started ideological debates with him. His words were very surprisingly in formula terms. He made the world a formula one for you very easily. I remember one night he came to our room and started talking about changing the world. We preoccupied with his formulas. He continued to talk about such things for long hours.

*Was it possible to record his words?

*No we just listened. However, Mr. Meisami gave me the book “School, the guide of action”. He talked about the same things which captured our attention. After the revolution, this book was published and found out that all of Hassan’s words had been adopted from this book. They had worked on this book since 1974. This was the same thing he was doing, causing us to establish a close relation with Mr. Meisami and the guys of his group. Hassan Pagardi was the first one who came to our university. He was from Qazvin but had close relation with those of Najaf Abad and Isfahan. Thus, it was possible to have access to him every day in the university. Later, other guys form Meisami’s group came.

*Another event happened in September 1978 was the entrance of new students which doubled.

*First we had planned to spread inside the dorms. We decided to select our roommates among the guys who had entered the university in 1978. There were three-person rooms. Each of us should become roommate with two of the new-comers. Our aim was to spread the current to some extent three these new students. I myself became roommates with two of the 1978 students. Almost all Mashahdi guys did the same thing. This caused these new students to be informed of what was happening very soon.
Another thing was also done. A pamphlet was printed in 60 to 70 pages in the beginning of the education year. I think it was done in the first ten days. It was printed and distributed in the university. It was aimed at informing the new students of the history of student movement, the events that took place last year and what kind of atmosphere the university had. Naturally these things happened in all spectrums whether religious or non-religious.   

*Did the Disciplinary Committee find out?

*No, because the university was shut down immediately. We did not finish even the first quarter. The main student activity was not inside the university. A few weeks after the start of the education year, the university’s campus looked small for activity. So we were not looking for holding demonstrations or distributing communiques inside it. We did not attend the classes two days in a week. We moved toward Tehran or Qom or Najaf Abad on Tuesdays. All spectrums were informed of the events. There was still no organized current among the students in September 1978. But the organization was created automatically. The people related to Mohammad Qoorchani and the relation with the community increased.

*So, the university was going toward being closed.

*The university had been closed practically. I along with 7 or 8 of the guys was in Tehran on 4^th of November. We were in the clashes happened on this day. I was in Haft-e Tir Square when a bank was set on fire in this square. And we donated our blood for those who had been shot and injured in the clashes. The next day we were in Tehran and then came back to the university.

*How was your relation with the university professors?

*We did not see them at all. The university campus had been divided into two groups. One was the university authorities and professors who were after keeping the scientific atmosphere of the university and the other was a series of students who were still in the framework of the university’s scientific rules and atmosphere. There was also another spectrum which consisted of the lower ranks of the university such as instructors or the personnel who were at the stake of the events happening outside the university. They helped and cooperated with the students in order to create facilities the guys needed. For example, they provided papers for the communiques, or services to increase their connection with outside.

*So, they had such cooperation?

*Yes, they did such things. There were people in the departments of Welfare, Student Affairs and Education who were helping the students.

*When did you return to Isfahan from Tehran?

*We were in Tehran from 2^nd to 5^th of November 1978. We came back to Isfahan on 6^th or 7^th of November.

*What happened that led to the closure of the university?

*We did not need to close the classes. No class was set up. The more the outside events spread, the more the guys attended outside. Naturally, the atmosphere inside the university did not have much impact on the closure because of the special form that existed. This was different in other universities such as Tehran University. Because they were going outside and after the demonstration, came back again inside the university. But this was not the same here. If you went to Isfahan University, you could not come back to attend the classes. It was getting dark and finally if you did not have any place for sleeping, you returned to the dorm and slept there. It happened many nights that we went outside for example in Najaf Abad, and did not come back. Therefore, the classes did not set up automatically. The demonstrations outside the university caused all the classes were closed from the first term. After this, the students were largely present in the society. This was also happened in Isfahan. I think the last classes were set up in late November 1978.

*So you mean the classes were not set up in December?

*No. I think it was not set up even until the end of November. The activities of the university were brought in the society and the student movement was very influential during the revolution since it had no fear. The students did not fear to be killed. Even they did not even fear to be beaten. After the closure of the university, we came with these guys to Mashhad, and were aware of the daily events. We were in Tehran in the events happened in December 1978 and January 1979 and the armed conflicts.

When Imam Khomeini (God bless his soul) arrived in Tehran on 1^st of February 1979, we along with other guys were in a group which were involved in the mosques' network. A headquarters had been organized whose mission was to protect the Imam. We had been deployed in an area in Behesht Zahra Cemetery where Imam Khomeini was supposed to deliver a speech. We were in a mosque in Shahbaz Street. We went to the mosque in the afternoon of 30^th January of 1979, praying and having dinner there. We stayed there at night and near morning while Tehran was in martial law, we went toward the cemetery with a truck and deployed there in order to protect the area. I and two other students of the university were in that 70-80 strong group.

*Were you armed?

*We were not. But a few had guns. Those who had come were religious. Ali Shayan Far, and Kazem Behnam who been shot and injured on 8^th of September, were with me in Behesht Zahra Cemetery. It was interesting that we faced with the late Abdi who was martyred in the morning of February 1. A number of others were preparing a platform for the Imam's speech. At any rate, the Imam came and delivered a speech. After the speech, we came back to Refah School where the Imam was resided, patrolling the suburbs. We did not sleep the whole night of February 2. Then, we returned to the same mosque in Shabaz Street. We did not sleep for 48 hours. We guessed that the security forces might arrest Imam Khomeini at night. Thus, the same group in the cemetery was supposed to patrol around the school. We came at night and took care of the area in that cold weather. The next day we came to the mosque but there was no empty place. We slept in the yard on the ground. Then the clashes of 8^th of February happened and we were also involved in them. The guys came to Tehran on 11^th of February. We saw Abdi again on the morning of February 11 near Ferdowsi Square.

*The presence of the girls in this movement was not highlighted. Did they attend but you did not mention?

*The Mashahdi guys did not have any relation with the girls. I do not know in what currents the university girls were. However, they took part in one or two demonstrations held in 1977. In general, we did not talk with the girls according to our beliefs.
The girls were present in the demonstration held on 9^th of January onward. They were also present in overnight demonstrations which the guys covered their faces, because we recognized this from her voices. I am sure that I had heard the voice of the girls. One seventh of the students who entered the university in 1977 were girls. There was one girl for 70 to 80 boys. 

*Thanks a lot for your cooperation in this interview.

*Good luck. God willing this trust is kept because the history is not what we see today and build it. The history has been what has happened and might be changed later or we may have been changed. But we must see the reality in the day when it has happened and to see what it has been.

The thing which was shaped in Isfahan's Aryamehr Industrial University was a special case in terms of the current of student movement and did not exist in other universities. The campaign became public in this university and made all political. The percentage of political activists was not like the rest of the universities and this percentage was very high. And this was shown even after the victory of the Islamic revolution.  This shows that the current of campaign and justice-seeking was very large and broad-spectrum among the students of the university in 1977 and 1978.  In my view, Isfahan's Aryamehr Industrial University was a special current in the student movement during the two years. Good luck.