Mohammad Sharif, the Iranian lawyer and law professor, was dismissed on Tuesday from Tehran’s Allame Tabatabai University.
Sharif told Human Rights reporters Committee that he was handed a letter stating his “general qualifications have been rejected and [his] services have been terminated at the university.”
He added: “Earlier they forced out a number of professors, in my case despite my 25 years of service. They were very unfair,”
In February, the university eliminated all of Sharif’s undergraduate, graduate and doctorate classes with no explanation.
Sharif said he will file an official complaint against his dismissal and follow up through legal channels.
Sharif graduated from Tehran University’s law school and also specialized in international law at Beheshti University. In his legal practice, he has taken on the cases of several detained political, social and student activists on a pro bono basis.
Sharif is one of the founders of the Human Rights Defenders Centre in Iran, which was outlawed by the Islamic Republic following the post-election protests of 2009.
The Iranian Minister of Science and Technology has started a ideological cleansing of universities. He has announced that all professors who are not aligned with the system will be dismissed. This has led to the dismissal or forced retirement of more than 50 professors at Iranian universities.
