{"id":340156,"date":"2025-12-05T20:34:53","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T19:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=340156"},"modified":"2025-12-05T20:35:45","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T19:35:45","slug":"defying-the-winter-of-tyranny-political-prisoners-call-for-uprising-on-student-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/human-rights\/defying-the-winter-of-tyranny-political-prisoners-call-for-uprising-on-student-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Defying the \u2018Winter of Tyranny\u2019: Iran’s Political Prisoners Call for Uprising on Student Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Iranian
Iranian students and political prisoners Amirhossein Moradi and Ali Younesi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As Iranian universities approach Student Day (December 7), the regime\u2019s attempts to stifle the country\u2019s academic community have met with defiant resistance from behind prison bars. In a coordination of messages released from Evin and Ghezel Hesar prisons, elite students Ali Younesi and Amirhossein Moradi<\/a> have issued a manifesto challenging the \u201cexecution government\u201d of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian.<\/p>\n

The two students, both award-winning alumni of the International Astronomy Olympiad, were arrested in 2020. Now, writing from the depths of Iran’s penal system in December 2025, they describe a regime in its \u201cweakest historical position,\u201d resorting to record-breaking execution numbers to mask its economic and social bankruptcy.<\/p>\n

Rejection of Dependency and Reform<\/h2>\n

In their statements, both prisoners systematically dismantled the two prevailing narratives often pushed to pacify Iranian society: the hope for foreign intervention and the illusion of internal reform.<\/p>\n

Amirhossein Moradi, writing from Evin Prison, addressed the passivity of waiting for external saviors. Referencing the geopolitical tensions of 2024 and 2025, he wrote, \u201cShould we remain like those awaiting a messiah, hoping for the dispatch of missiles and drones from foreign countries? In that case, much like the recent war, freedom will not be brought to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Message
Message of Amirhossein Moradi on the Students Day 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ali Younesi, detained in Ghezel Hesar Prison<\/a>, echoed this sentiment, warning against the loss of national self-confidence. He criticized those who sit in wait for global powers to intervene, hoping merely for a “better jailer” rather than true liberation. He equally dismissed the possibility of change from within the theocracy. \u201cShould we sit and wait for the reform or transformation of the massacre regime?\u201d Moradi asked, noting that nearly half a century of looting has proven that \u201cspontaneous change of the rulers is impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

For these students, the path forward is self-reliance. \u201cDemocracy does not descend from the sky,\u201d Moradi stated. Younesi concluded that in the \u201cwinter-stricken geography\u201d of Iran, the only answer is \u201cStruggle.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cost of Resistance: New Sentences<\/h2>\n

The clarity of their message helps explain the regime’s desperate measures to keep them incarcerated. By August 2025, Younesi and Moradi had served over 64 months and were nearing the completion of their original sentences, which had been reduced to 6 years and 8 months. However, ostensibly fearful of their potential influence if released, the Judiciary fabricated new cases against them.<\/p>\n

\"Message
Message of Ali Younesi on the Students Day 2025<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On August 9, 2025, Branch 23 of the Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Ali Mazloom, handed down additional prison terms<\/a>. Moradi received an extra 15 months for “propaganda activities.” Younesi faced a harsher penalty: an additional 6 years and 3 months, exile to Kerman Prison, and a total ban on phone contact. The charges against Younesi included a bizarre accusation of “endorsing and supporting the Zionist regime”\u2014a label the Judiciary increasingly applies to dissidents. This followed an August 5 ruling where the Judiciary, in a trial of 104 PMOI members, formally added “collaboration with the Zionist regime” to its list of fabricated charges against the opposition.<\/p>\n

The Human Toll and the “Storm of Rebellion”<\/h2>\n

The prisoners\u2019 messages were not merely political abstractions; they highlighted the tangible human cost of the current crackdown. Moradi drew attention to the tragic fate of Ahmed Baldi<\/a>, a student who, overwhelmed by pressure by regime authorities against his family\u2019s shopping stall, self-immolated, and Ehsan Faridi<\/a>, a fellow student currently at risk of execution. He also noted recent arrests of university students in Hamedan.<\/p>\n

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#Iran<\/a>|ian Regime Issues New Prison Sentences for Imprisoned Elite Students Ali Younesi and Amir Hossein Moradi #HumanRightsViolations<\/a>https:\/\/t.co\/8U5YJBxL77<\/a> via @irannewsupdate1<\/a><\/p>\n

— Iran News Update (@IranNewsUpdate1) August 9, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n