University of Tehran bars Farzad Kolbali from teaching over "subversive" posts

The Islamic Republic's Ministry of Science has ended its work with Farzad Kolbali, a visiting lecturer in political sociology at the Faculty of Law and Political Science of the University of Tehran. According to a ministry announcement on Sunday, 18 October 2026, his class has been cancelled and he is also banned from entering the university.

The Ministry of Science gave as the reason for the decision the publication of content that it describes as "insulting and subversive" on social media; in this way, writing online has cost a university lecturer his class and even his right to enter the campus.

The faculty's Basij claimed responsibility

The Basij of the Faculty of Law and Political Science of the University of Tehran called the lecturer's dismissal its own achievement and, in a statement, threatened other professors and students. In the statement, the faculty's Basij said it would not allow the university environment to return to the days before 28 February.

Farzad Kolbali has paid a price for his activity before. According to the student body "Daneshjuyan-e Mottahed" (United Students), on 7 December 2009, when he was a doctoral student in political sociology at the University of Tehran, he was abducted and detained by intelligence agents with the cooperation of the university's security office.

A new wave of repression in universities

The lecturer's ban is not the only example of repression of academics in recent weeks. The president of the University of Tehran had earlier announced the expulsion of two students on charges of involvement in "burning a flag", and dozens of students at Isfahan University of Technology and Sharif University of Technology have also faced disciplinary rulings and expulsion. Earlier, university professor Ahmad Rahimi was also kept in detention on charges of helping protesters in the December–January uprising.

The repression of students and professors has intensified since the December–January uprising. In its human rights reports on Iran, the US State Department has also described the punishment of student activists for criticising the authorities as a severe restriction on freedom of expression and association and has called for it to stop.

The Islamic Republic's Ministry of Science has expelled a University of Tehran professor from the university over his posts on social media.