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When Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was elected in June, former Iranian student activist Tara Sepehrifar celebrated his victory along with thousands of other Iranian students abroad. Tears welled up in her eyes as her mother called from Tehran to share the sounds of people cheering in the streets. "She said: 'Tara, listen to what people are saying.' I heard only one thing, (chants of) 'Mir-Hossein.'"
Sepehrifar said she was hopeful about the promise of reforms Rouhani had announced, which she said didn't come close to pledges made by former presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, but "went into the same direction." Rouhani's flirting with social media, commitment to what she described as a "more rational foreign policy" and greater academic freedom appealed to her.
"I was happy, but at the same time I was feeling very nostalgic," she told Al Jazeera. "All the sad moments of the past four years — demonstrations, repression, prison and fleeing the country — were coming back to my mind. I was thinking by myself that four years have passed! Could it really be a new start?" she said.
Sepehrifar, an activist of the Green Revolution, fled Iran three years ago and received asylum in the United States after local intelligence services told her she would be barred from pursuing a master's degree. A court sentenced her to seven years of prison and 74 lashes in absentia for her role in the anti-government protests.
In August, two months after Rouhani was elected, Interim Higher Education Minister Jafar Tofighi put out a call for all students who had been banned from universities to come forward, according to the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), a local university news source founded after the major student protests of 1999.
In October, Tofighi said about 400 students have been allowed to return so far, and all cases submitted to his ministry have been reviewed, ISNA reported.
Sepehrifar will not able to resume her education in Iran given the prison sentence that awaits her if she returns. But Afshin, a 25-year-old former student activist at the University of Economic Sciences in Tehran who was banned from university by Iranian intelligence forces after participating in anti-government protests, told Al Jazeera he has.
"I did not believe (it) at first," he said. "They told me my problem is being solved now, and I can go back to school."
Afshin, who did not want to give his last name for fear of government retribution, was a starred student — a common term in Iran used to refer to those whose transcripts were marked by a star. The sign was a harbinger of greater trouble to come as the government cracked down on student activists and targeted university campuses as centers of dissent in the country, such as the Sharif University of Technology, where Sepehrifar and Afshin both received their bachelor degrees.
Following his involvement in the protests, Afshin had an interview at the Ministry for Higher Education after taking the national entrance exam to be admitted to a master's program. The interview was not what he expected.
"It wasn't an interview at all. It was a four-hour interrogation during which I was very harshly threatened. In the end, they told me I should not think about continuing my studies."
Everything changed after that, he said. His parents got depressed, his girlfriend broke up with him and family friends suddenly stopped calling, he said. "That year was one of the most painful years of my life."
When Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was elected in June, former Iranian student activist Tara Sepehrifar celebrated his victory along with thousands of other Iranian students abroad. Tears welled up in her eyes as her mother called from Tehran to share the sounds of people cheering in the streets. She said:"Tara, listen to what people are saying." I heard only one thing, "Mir Hossein."
Sepehrifar said she was hopeful about the promise of reforms Rouhani had announced, which she said didn’t come close to former presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi’s, who has been held in house arrest since 2011, but “went into the same direction.” Rouhani’s flirting with social media, commitment to what she described as a "more rational foreign policy" and greater academic freedom appealed to her.
I was happy, but at the same time I was feeling very nostalgic," she told Al Jazeera. "All the sad moments of the past four years — demonstrations, repression, prison and fleeing the country — were coming back to my mind. I was thinking by myself that four years have passed! Could it really be a new start?" she said
When Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was elected in June, former Iranian student activist Tara Sepehrifar celebrated his victory along with thousands of other Iranian students abroad. Tears welled up in her eyes as her mother called from Tehran to share the sounds of people cheering in the streets. She said:"Tara, listen to what people are saying." I heard only one thing, "Mir Hossein."
Sepehrifar said she was hopeful about the promise of reforms Rouhani had announced, which she said didn’t come close to former presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi’s, who has been held in house arrest since 2011, but “went into the same direction.” Rouhani’s flirting with social media, commitment to what she described as a "more rational foreign policy" and greater academic freedom appealed to her.
I was happy, but at the same time I was feeling very nostalgic," she told Al Jazeera. "All the sad moments of the past four years — demonstrations, repression, prison and fleeing the country — were coming back to my mind. I was thinking by myself that four years have passed! Could it really be a new start?" she said
When Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was elected in June, former Iranian student activist Tara Sepehrifar celebrated his victory along with thousands of other Iranian students abroad. Tears welled up in her eyes as her mother called from Tehran to share the sounds of people cheering in the streets. She said:"Tara, listen to what people are saying." I heard only one thing, "Mir Hossein."
Sepehrifar said she was hopeful about the promise of reforms Rouhani had announced, which she said didn’t come close to former presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi’s, who has been held in house arrest since 2011, but “went into the same direction.” Rouhani’s flirting with social media, commitment to what she described as a "more rational foreign policy" and greater academic freedom appealed to her.
I was happy, but at the same time I was feeling very nostalgic," she told Al Jazeera. "All the sad moments of the past four years — demonstrations, repression, prison and fleeing the country — were coming back to my mind. I was thinking by myself that four years have passed! Could it really be a new start?" she said
RELATED: An exclusive interview with Iranian Nobel Peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi.
Farideh Farhi, a scholar and expert on Iranian affairs at the National Iranian American Council, told Al Jazeera she is skeptical about the role of the university as the vanguard of political activism in Iran.
"There is no doubt that Iran's political environment has become more open and less securitized since the election, and this is bound to impact universities as well. I am, however, not sure about the extent to which political activism of the past will come back to the universities."
After a prolonged period of social isolation combined with youth unemployment rates of up to 40 percent, students might think twice before risking everything again.
"Economic woes have a way of dampening political activities with students more concerned with job opportunities and securing livelihood," Farhi said.
Afshin said he didn't intend to become politically active again and prefers to focus on rebuilding his life instead. "This country does not need political activism at the moment. We have to work. We have a good government, and this is a good opportunity for improving the situation in our country," he said. "I think we should not ask for everything back at the same time."
But Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize winner and prominent Iranian activist, told Al Jazeera she hasn't seen any improvement at all since Rouhani was elected. Monday's protests of hard-liners commemorating the anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 serve as a warning he doesn't have any power without the Supreme Leader's blessing, she said.
Asked about the government's clemency for some starred students, she scoffed, "Have you ever heard about political tricks?" and said, "Nothing has changed."
Relatively few students have been allowed to return out of the approximately 1,000 students who have been expelled since 2009, she said, and none are Baha'i — the country's second largest religious community that is actively oppressed.
In a letter to U.N. Women, Ebadi also lamented the recent restrictions on women's education at universities in Iran. Since 2011, officials have introduced segregated universities as well as gender quotas. "This is something that did not exist in Iran in the past," she said, "and during Rouhani this continued." The quotas disadvantage female students, "because the number of girls always exceeded boys."
But despite continued setbacks, Sepehrifar remains hopeful about going home one day. Student leaders have submitted a request to the government to reinstate political organizations that were shut during former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency in around 30 universities in Tehran and other cities, she said.
"Is it enough? No," she said about the student reforms. "But obviously it is an improvement."
"But I need to keep reminding myself to keep a balance between my expectation and the reality on the ground, recognizing they are limited opportunities of change, but not to stop trying."
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