Norwegian authorities have depriveddozens of Iranian students of university programssince 2012, claimingthat Iran is sending young people to Western countries to learn how to make nuclear weapons.
Iranian students have rejected such allegations and emphasized thattheir studies have nothing to do with developingnuclear arms. They also called the move an act ofdiscrimination.
Eight months after she was forced to return to Iran overvisa denial in Norway, Hamideh Kaffash, a former PhD student at the Norwegian University of Science and Technologyin Trondheim, decided to go back to Norway and launchlegal action against the European countrys officials.
I, together with 13 Iranian students, got a letter from security police that we have to leave Norway because they think that we will gain some knowledge in Norway that might lead to making a weapon of mass destruction, Kaffash said.
She was working on a project on reducing CO2 emissions in ferroalloy production.
This alloy is completely safe and reducing CO2 emissions is known to everybody and it is a friendly environmental project, she said.
Since 2012, more than 50 Iranian students in Norway have had similar experiences.
Norways reputation is for being a free country. Its really shocking that something like this is happening in Norway, Kaffash said.
Together with another PhD studentwho shared similarexperience, Kaffash managed to collect more than 12,000 signatures for a petition that was handed to the Norwegian government.
They are spearheading an online campaign, called Stop Educational Discrimination Against Iranians, which has now thousands of followers. They even managed to raise enough money to hire one of the best Norwegian lawyers to defend their case in court.
Our lawyer said you will win in the court 80 percent, but now we have heard something that the court has said that there is some secret evidence that they cannot show this to us and our lawyer. Its really ridiculous, Kaffash said.
A Norwegian court is set to hold a hearing session on June 17th, which is scheduled to last for three days.
Adamant to fight to the end, the Iranian student said that even if she loses the court case in Norway, she will not stop her move. She is already prepared to take the case to the European Court of Justice.
By Press TV
