The University of Bologna for Mehdi Zare Ashkzari and the defence of human rights in Iran

"We received the news of Mehdi Zare Ashkzari's death with dismay, grief and indignation. We express our condolences to the family and solidarity with all the Iranian women and men who, even in universities, are fighting and suffering for the values we hold most dear". These were the words of Rector Giovanni Molari on 1 January 2023, when Amnesty International published the news of the death of a former student of the University of Bologna as a result of the imprisonment and torture inflicted on him in Iran.

Mehdi Zare Ashkzari was a student at the University of Bologna. He enrolled in a.y. 2015-2016 in the Combined Bachelor's and Master's degree in Pharmacy and interrupted his studies in 2017. In Bologna, he was part of the large Iranian community of the University, one of the largest in Italy with over 750 students enrolled in Bachelor's, Master's, Professional Master's, and PhD programmes.

"It is meaningful," added the Rector on 2 January while meeting the press at Palazzo Poggi, "that one of the first to report this terrible news was our Patrick Zaki, who is fighting not only for his own rights, but for those of everyone. The commitment of the University of Bologna to human and civil rights is written in our Statute, which reads as follows: 'the leading reference value for the entire community is respect for the fundamental rights of the person, which the University is committed to promoting and protecting in all circumstances'".

As early as last October, the University of Bologna, together with the entire CRUI (Conference of Italian University Rectors), joined the appeal that the Italian section of Scholars at Risk (SAR-Italy) made to the Iranian government to cease attacks on protesters and to seek peaceful ways to meet their legitimate demands and shed light on the death of Mahsa Amini. The public document emphasises the international academic community's strong condemnation of the current violations of the human rights of students and staff at Iranian universities, higher education institutions and secondary schools.

The University has already launched, and will continue to launch in the coming months, initiatives to keep focused on the Iranian situation and expressing the solidarity of the entire University with those who are fighting and suffering for freedom.