TEHRAN - A PhD student from Iran has stated that he will not defend his thesis at Stockholm University if the government restricts his rights to celebrate Iranian “heroes” like General Qassem Soleimani.

Vahid Saadattalab, who will defend his thesis at the Department of Materials and Environmental Chemistry on March 3, has made his work available for public reading. 

In addition to thanking his family, the student also remembered General Qassem Soleimani and Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari.

Several students at the institution have objected to the move while calling it a “big deal,” they make attempts to obstruct the seminar.

In an interview with SVT, he said, “If dedicating anything to family is normal, then Soleimani belongs to my family as well; he is like a father and a brother to me.”

“He saved my country so why not dedicate it to my family in a bigger picture?” he noted.

According to reports, university officials have summoned an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss the situation. 

The student stated that “if there is freedom of expression in Sweden, he should be entitled to do what he wants.”

When asked why he chose to name these personalities at the beginning of his thesis, Saadattalab responded, “They are heroes. They were the ones who saved humanity from the evil force in the Middle East [West Asia] actually.”

He said, “I wouldn’t have defended my thesis without it. I was able to pursue research on science because of the protection we got from them.”

When asked if he would still defend his thesis if the university asked him to remove those phrases, Saadattalab said, “I will never at all.”

In another interview with ISNA, when asked certain details about himself, he noted that he is from a village who traveled to Sweden to pursue his PhD in chemistry.

Saadattalab also said that he received good vibes as well as positive messages and emails from people of Iran.

“People of Iran only sent messages of support and prayed for me, and the messages I received in Sweden indicated that the voices of minorities are not heard here,” he added. 

He went on to say it is crucial to raise the voice and have courage and motivation to speak out against oppression and tyranny regardless of cacophonies concocted by certain Western-backed media.

When asked what his professors and critics think about General Soleimani, he said, unfortunately, they follow the image made up by American propaganda. 

He described the people of Sweden as good and friendly whereas its politicians are normally corrupt. 

Given the image created by media, he said, “I must say that people don’t go deep and just rely on what the media spread. They do not understand that General Soleimani is a national hero. The media propaganda in the West has turned people into puppets. Such Western media idol must be broken.”