Zero Genie

The sister of an award-winning university student has released a video demanding an explanation from Iran’s security organs for the April 10 arrest of her brother.

Ali Younesi who was the winner of the gold medal in the International Astronomy Olympiad in 2017 in China is twenty years old and a fourth-year physics student in Tehran’s Sharif Industrial University.

Twelve agents rushed into his home and arrested him while physically assault him. His sister Aida and brother Reza say he was hit in the head and bleeding when taken away.

Security forces or prosecutors have not said why they have arrested Younesi. A leader of the hardliner Baseej student organization has said his arrest is not related to his activities in the university.

Aida Younesi in her video asks officials to either reveal the details of her brother’s case “or apologize for slander”.

Addressing the Student Baseej at Sharif University she says, “Based on what laws you can arrest a 20-year old young man using physical assault and show his bloody face to the parent”.

Security forces have also arrested another award-winning physics student, Amir-Hossein Moradi and there is also no news about him.

The Islamic Republic has a long history of arresting or persecuting university students who show a tendency for activism or exercising freedom of speech.