A doctoral student at the University of Orléans in France has been sentenced to 18 months in prison and banned from the country for five years after posting statements on social media against “Zionist capitalism” and dedicating his dissertation to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who he claimed was killed. He was convicted of justifying acts of terrorism.
The student, Mohammad Javad Saeli, 36, was born in Iran in 1990 and moved to Lebanon in 2002 at age 12. He arrived in France in 2020 for his studies. He was arrested on April 8 this year and prosecuted after his March 27 doctoral defense in law, during which he dedicated his thesis to Khamenei, said to have been killed in an Israeli strike a month earlier during the launch of Operation "Roaring Lion” in Iran.
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Saeli dedicated his dissertation to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
(Photo: AFP PHOTO / HO / KHAMENEI.IR)
During the defense, which focused on insurance law, his supervisor asked him to return to the subject of his research, but he refused and continued speaking about Iran and religion. Attempts by the university president and members of the examination committee also failed, and the defense was ultimately halted. Saeli was suspended on April 1. French reports say he also threatened university staff, telling them they would receive “punishment from Allah.”
He was also prosecuted over posts published on the professional network LinkedIn. In them, he referred to “the Zionist capitalist struggle for domination” and called for “submission to the word of God” and for being on “the right side of history,” which he described as “the great resistance front,” a term encompassing the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and the Palestinian organization Hamas.
During his trial, prosecutors tried to obtain an admission that Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard are terrorist organizations under French law, but he refused. Sali said he was “defending humanity,” particularly “the 20,000 children slaughtered in Gaza,” and described Khamenei as someone who “sacrificed his life for the children of Gaza.”
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The University of Orléans has more than 20,000 students, including 14% international students
(Photo: shutterstock)
People who knew him at the university said he had been friendly and polite but gradually stopped going out in the evenings, avoided alcohol and began speaking more about religion.
In the ruling issued Monday, Saeli was convicted of justifying terrorism and of “violence or intimidation against a public official.” He was cleared of the charge of “direct incitement to terrorism online.” The judge sentenced him to 18 months in prison followed by deportation.
The University of Orléans has more than 20,000 students, including 14% international students from nearly 90 countries.