Detained protester in northern Iran at risk of receiving death sentence

Mohammad Javad Larijani, has gone viral on Iranian social media since Saturday after Iranian media said it shows him telling a student protester to “go look for your friends at Kahrizak morgue.”

The remark, made during a confrontation with protesting students at Sharif University in Tehran, refers to the Kahrizak forensic complex in southern Tehran, which became a flashpoint after videos emerged showing families searching among body bags following the January 7–8 crackdown that left more than 36,500 people dead.

The footage circulated widely as universities reopened and students held memorial gatherings for those killed in the January unrest.

Online reaction intensified after users identified Abolhasani as the son-in-law of Javad Larijani, brother of Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council for National Security.

The US Treasury on January 15 sanctioned Ali Larijani and other senior officials it described as architects of a “brutal crackdown on peaceful demonstrators,” citing thousands of deaths and injuries since protests began in December.

Abolhasani, who has held senior administrative roles at Sharif University and has publicly backed hardline political figures, has not publicly commented on the video.

It would be wrong to expect Iran-US negotiations to succeed 100 percent, an Iranian official told Al Jazeera on Sunday, while saying Tehran remained prepared for any military confrontation.

The official said Iran is ready for any conflict and that the negotiation track was separate from preparations for any attack.

He warned that any confrontation would lead to Iran targeting US interests in the region.

Students at Iran’s University of Art staged a rally against the Islamic Republic on Sunday amid the 40th-day memorials for protesters killed in nationwide protests.

Irish rock band U2 has released a song honoring Sarina Esmailzadeh, the 16-year-old Iranian who died during the 2022 protests, with a lyric video referencing to the tens of thousands of victims of the recent uprising and naming some of those killed.

The song repeatedly invokes Sarina as “the song of the future,” while its lyric video includes on-screen references to protest victims whose images became symbols of the movement.

At the University of Tehran, students gathered outside the central library chanting “Death to the dictator,” the United Students Telegram channel reported.

Similar gatherings were held at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran University of Science and Technology, Sharif University of Technology and Khajeh Nasir University in Tehran.

Students at Iran University of Science and Technology and Sharif University chanted: “We swear by the blood of our comrades, we will stand to the end,” according to videos and reports shared by student groups.

Security was tightened at some campuses. The Khajeh Nasir student newsletter reported that access to its Seyed Khandan campus in Tehran was limited to one entrance on Sunday morning and that Basij members entered the campus in coordination with security forces.

The newsletter said the Basij were seeking to identify students, build disciplinary or legal cases and steer the planned gathering toward violence.

Large rallies were also held on Saturday in Tehran and Mashhad, with students at Sharif and Amirkabir universities of technology and medical sciences universities chanting pro-monarchy and anti-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei slogans.

University officials and the government urged calm.

Hossein Goldansaz, the University of Tehran’s vice president for student and cultural affairs, said he would “in no way support students” if protests turned violent. “If they observe red lines, we will grant them permission. Anti-establishment slogans waste students’ time,” he said.

The Science Ministry said it would not allow insecurity on campuses. In a post on X following tensions at a Saturday memorial event at Sharif University of Technology, a media adviser to the science minister said: “We will not allow the university environment to become unsafe.”

Protests at Sharif University were met with force, as Basij paramilitary forces affiliated with the IRGC were deployed to crack down on the demonstrators.