The global academic community today mourns an unprecedented tragedy. The state terrorism of the Zionist regime, in a brazen act of barbarism, has gone beyond targeting infrastructure and military figures to directly attack "thought" and "scientific management." This time, this unbridled savagery targeted not just a scientist, but a manager who led the world's largest in-person university; the martyred scientist, Professor Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi.

The assassination of a university president, especially of an institution with international reach, is an unprecedented crime in contemporary history and a crossing of all human, ethical, and academic red lines. This act is a direct declaration of war on the sacred sanctuary of the university and a clear message to all independent elites and thinkers worldwide that they will no longer have immunity anywhere, not even in the position of leading a scientific institution.

We ask, what was his crime? His crime was transforming a major university into a center for "innovation, skill-building, and solving human problems." Was his offense striving for the independence of science and serving humanity outside the frameworks of domination? The enemies of freedom and progress targeted a mindset and management that believed science should serve all humanity, not be a tool in the hands of monopolistic powers. This intellectual independence was intolerable to them.

This horrific crime is a link in the chain of organized state terrorism that targets independent thinkers. This movement has previously taken from human society prominent professors and scientists who refused to serve within their framework of domination. The deadly silence and passivity of international human rights organizations and institutions like UNESCO in the face of these serial crimes has been the main encouragement for the continuation of this brutality and increasing audacity.