Universities and Academic Institutions Statement Condemning the Assassination of Science and Thought

and Calling on the Conscience of the World to Join the Global Campaign #ProtectScientists
In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

The global academic community today mourns an unprecedented tragedy. The state terrorism of the Zionist regime, in a brazen and blatant act of barbarity, has gone beyond targeting military infrastructure and figures and turned to the direct targeting of “thought” and “scientific leadership.” This time, this unbridled savagery did not only target a scientist but a leader — the head of the largest in-person university in the world: the martyred scholar, Professor Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi.
The assassination of the president of a university, especially one with an international scope, is a rare crime in contemporary history and a transgression of all human, ethical, and academic red lines. This action constitutes a direct declaration of war on the sacred domain of the university and sends a clear message to all independent elites and thinkers worldwide that nowhere — not even the chairmanship of a scientific institution — is safe anymore.
We ask: What was his fault? His fault was transforming a large university into a center for innovation, skill development, and solving human problems. His fault was striving for the independence of science and serving humanity beyond the frameworks of domination. The enemies of freedom and progress targeted the mindset and leadership that believed science must serve all humanity, not just as a tool in the hands of monopolistic powers. Such intellectual independence was intolerable to them.
This horrendous crime is another link in the chain of organized state terrorism deliberately targeting independent thinkers. This trend has previously claimed the lives of prominent professors and scientists who refused to serve within the framework of their domination. The deadly silence and inaction of international human rights organizations and bodies such as UNESCO in the face of these ongoing crimes have been the main incentive for the persistence of this savagery and growing audacity.
We, academics and scientific centers, while strongly condemning this crime against humanity and science, hereby declare:
1. Silence in the face of this barbarity is a betrayal of the mission of science and human dignity. We call on all universities, professors, students, and awake consciences across the globe to break their silence and condemn this blatant assassination of science.
2. We invite you to join the “Global Campaign to Protect Scientists” (#ProtectScientists). Let us create a global movement that compels the international organizations to officially recognize the assassination of scientists as a crime against humanity and legally pursue its perpetrators and instigators.
3. Enemies of humanity and science should know that by physically eliminating scholars, they will never be able to halt the path of scientific advancement. From the blood of every free scholar who falls, hundreds of new sprouts of thought and truth-seeking will emerge. Pens will not be broken, and the light of knowledge will never be extinguished. We, as part of the world’s academic community, will resolutely continue the path of these martyrs for the cause of science, to serve humanity, and to build a better world.