Similarly dismayed, students in Tehran and around the country protested peacefully against the closures. A major student group, the Office to Consolidate Unity, firmly told students to stay in the classroom and avoid the streets at all costs, so as to avoid a repeat of last summer's student riots. Former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a political force in the conservative camp, led the week's Friday prayer, predictably speaking in support of the crackdown. The blows to one of the most visible gains of President Khatami's reform effort immediately raised concerns that a similar fate may await Iran's new reformist-controlled parliament, elected in February and due to convene later this month. All eyes are now on the second round of the elections.
Reformists are under siege from all directions.
Several of their leaders were interrogated this week for their participation in a conference held in Berlin in late April on the results of the first round of the Iranian elections. Publisher Shahla Lahiji, student leader Ali Afshari and feminist lawyer Mehrangiz Kar have been imprisoned pending trial, while publisher Hamidreza Jaleipour has been released on bail. Journalist Akbar Ganji, imprisoned last week for his investigative work, faces the same charges. Reformists are highly concerned about his safety while in custody. On 30 April Ganji was reportedly transferred to the quarantine ward of Evin prison, where close associates say both his failing health and personal safety may be jeopardised.