Iranian authorities have shuttered an educational center accused of “inciting riots” during last year’s mass demonstrations triggered by the death in custody of a young woman, state media reports.
Nationwide protests rocked Iran following the September death of a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, Mahsa Amini, in police custody after her arrest over violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code.
“We prepared and issued a warrant for the closure of Gaj center following the directive of the minister of education,” state news agency IRNA quotes Ahmad Mahmoudzadeh, head of Iran’s non-governmental schools, as saying.
Mahmoudzadeh says Gaj had ” incited riots” during a Persian literature exam for students, without elaborating.
Iran’s reformist newspaper Shargh daily reports that Gaj had cited excerpts from revolutionary poems by prominent dissident Farrokhi Yazdi.
Gaj center, founded in 2002, has won multiple awards over the years for its publications.
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