Students in Iran Clash With Regime Backers

TEHRAN —  Fistfights broke out Monday between supporters of Iran’s Islamic regime and university students who issued a rare public criticism of Iran’s supreme leader during a rally in support of a history professor sentenced to death.

The students organized the demonstration at Sharif Technical University in Tehran to support reformist scholar Hashem Aghajari, who was found guilty of insulting the prophet Muhammad. About 3,000 students chanted slogans calling for freedom of speech and accusing hard-line clerics of thwarting President Mohammad Khatami’s political and social reform programs.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered a review of Aghajari’s case Sunday in an apparent effort to defuse such protests. Analysts said Khamenei’s intervention revealed how concerned the leadership had been about the student protests.

Some student leaders responded to Khamenei’s move by ordering an end to the protests. But others boosted their demands to include an apology from judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi.

“We will continue to protest till Shahroudi officially apologizes and there is a guarantee no one will be jailed because of what they say,” student leader Saeed Razavi Faqih said.

When the students criticized Khamenei and called for a referendum on reform programs, about 700 supporters of the regime who were standing by rushed the students.