Every year People in Need presents the Homo Homini Award to somebody who has made a significant contribution to the advance of human rights, democracy and the non-violent resolution of political conflicts.

Since the questionable presidential elections of June 2009 the Iranian public has been protesting against the results. In the weeks immediately following the vote there were many large-scale gatherings throughout the country. In response the regime employed violent repression, including shooting on crowds with the loss of human lives. From that time, protests and demonstrations have been held on significant dates and anniversaries, and continue to be met with violence. Several people have been sentenced to death and executed, while hundreds of others have been given jail terms, some for many years.

 

Majid Tavakoli (25) is a student from Tehran who to a certain extent became a symbol of the student uprisings of 2009. He has been active since 2006 when he was first arrested and later sent to prison for 15 months on a charge of insulting Islam and the Iranian leadership. Tavakoli is currently in jail again. He was arrested for speaking out forcefully against the dictatorship at a demonstration on 9 December, National Students’ Day, last year. Following his arrest, the official Iranian media began showing him in the Muslim women’s headwear, the hijab, in which he had apparently attempted to escape. Such images are believed to be part of a false campaign to discredit Tavakoli. In any case, it was met with a spontaneous public reaction which saw hundreds of other people posting photos of themselves dressed in hijabs online, in support of the student. In January this year, Majid Tavakoli was sentenced to eight years in prison.

 

There were disturbances in circumstances similar to those of last year in 1999. They began with student demonstrations against the closure of pro-reform newspapers and continued with the brutal intervention of the Iranian militia against students of Tehran University and violence on the streets of the city.

Abdullah Momeni is a former student leader and prominent member of Iran’s pro-democracy opposition who became publicly active during the protests 11 years ago. Since then he has been arrested on several occasions. Nevertheless, despite great pressure from Iran’s regime, he continues to fight for his ideals and has become a symbol of the student movement. He was last arrested after the 2009 elections and sentenced along with others who took part in June’s protests. Like Majid Tavakoli, he was handed an eight-year jail term. Family members, who are not allowed to visit in prison regularly, say he is in poor health.

 

Though last year’s brutal repression of protests led to international indignation, less attention has been paid to the important role played by Iranian students, a role which was also key in pro-reform demonstrations in the past.