Student Activist Remains in Intelligence Office Two Months After Arrest

In an interview with the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Mohammad Taravatrooy, lawyer for Shiraz University student Loghman Ghadiri Goltappeh, said that his client’s “temporary detention” has been extended for a third time. “Loghman Ghadiri has been in detention since late February, and I have had no access to his case, nor do I know the reason for his arrest. When I went to Shiraz’s Revolutionary Court a few days ago, the case had not yet been reviewed and they had extended the detention orders. He is still in the custody of the Fars Province Intelligence Office. I surmised from what was said in the court that his charges are ‘acting against national security,’ ‘propagating against the regime,’ and ‘insulting regime authorities.’ But I can’t know for sure, as I have not read his case,” said Taravatrooy.

“He has limited telephone contact with his family. He has seen his father a few times, but as his family is from Orumiyeh and he is detained in Shiraz, the long distance makes visits with his family difficult. To travel between the two cities by land takes about 27 hours and traveling has become difficult for his family,” Taravatrooy added.

Loghman Goltappeh is a graduate student in sociology and a student activist at Shiraz University. He was arrested on 9 March and has been in detention in the Fars Province Intelligence Office ever since. The University Security Unit prevented him from entering the campus to attend his thesis presentation session on 8 March. He was arrested by security forces the next day. Previously, he was arrested during events at Shiraz University in December 2008 and was banned from his studies for a term.