Iranian universities call for global campaign to protect scientists after Israeli assassination

TEHRAN (Iran News)  Iranian universities and academic centers have denounced the “assassination of knowledge and thought,” following the Israeli assassination of Professor Mohammad-Mehdi Tehranchi, president of the Islamic Azad University.

In a joint statement released on Sunday, they called on “the awakened conscience of the world” to join a global campaign titled Protect Scientists.

“The global academic community today mourns an unprecedented tragedy. The state terrorism of the Zionist regime, in a brazen act of barbarism, has gone beyond targeting infrastructure and military figures and turned its guns directly toward ‘thought’ and ‘the management of science,’” the statement read.

The universities said the killing of Tehranchi, who they called a “martyr scientist,” marked “a rare crime in contemporary history and a direct declaration of war against the sacred sanctuary of the university.”

“His only crime was turning a great university into a hub for ‘innovation, skill-building, and solving human problems,’” they said, adding that his independence of thought was intolerable for the enemies of freedom and progress.

The statement censured international organizations, including UNESCO, over their “deadly silence” and complicity through inaction.

Declaring that silence in the face of this savagery is a betrayal of science and human dignity, the universities urged academics, students, and institutions worldwide to condemn the attack and join the campaign.

By eliminating scientists, the enemies of humanity will never succeed in halting the advancement of science, the statement added.

The universities said the killing of Tehranchi, who they called a “martyr scientist,” marked “a rare crime in contemporary history and a direct declaration of war against the sacred sanctuary of the university.”

“His only crime was turning a great university into a hub for ‘innovation, skill-building, and solving human problems,’” they said, adding that his independence of thought was intolerable for the enemies of freedom and progress.

The statement censured international organizations, including UNESCO, over their “deadly silence” and complicity through inaction.

Declaring that silence in the face of this savagery is a betrayal of science and human dignity, the universities urged academics, students, and institutions worldwide to condemn the attack and join the campaign.