Iranian authorities on Saturday said they arrested several suspects in the murder of a student at Tehran University that triggered a night of protests and outcry.
There were protests at Tehran University on Friday night after assailants on a motorbike fatally stabbed a 19-year old student. Accounts of Amir Mohammad Khalegi’s stabbing on Wednesday vary but some witnesses said he was killed in a robbery attempt.
"The perpetrators have been arrested and are being questioned," the judiciary's spokesman Asghar Jahangir told state television.
Students initially protested against the lack of safety on campus, but the situation escalated after security forces arrested some of the demonstrators, many of whom later chanted slogans against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a paramilitary force founded after the country’s 1979 revolution which installed theocratic rule.
Fars News Agency reported that he was buried in his hometown on Saturday.
Science Minister Hossein Simaei Sarraf said that the head of Tehran University's dormitory management had resigned in the wake of the killing.
The minister also denied reports that students had been arrested following the protests.
The IRGC holds sway over Iranian politics and is often the target of protesters’ anger, along with the Basij paramilitary force tasked with putting down street protests.
Demonstrations have been on the rise in Iran in recent months, fuelled by widespread electricity shortages, caused by long-term underinvestment in power infrastructure, while others protest against cuts to benefits.
While many protests are small scale, they can quickly escalate. In September 2022, protests began outside a hospital where Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish student, was being treated after being allegedly beaten by police for violating the country’s strict dress code for women.
When she died of her injuries, protests escalated into a nationwide crisis that saw hundreds killed and thousands arrested, and strike action across multiple industries.
Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani spoke about the Tehran University protests on Friday on X. “The security of students and the peace of families is a duty and priority for the government. We invite everyone to keep the path of dialogue open by maintaining peace,” she said.
State news agency IRNA reported that Tehran University caretaker head, Hossein Hosseini, expressed sympathy with the university students by attending their gathering on Friday night.
“Right now, we are all in an emotional atmosphere, but starting tomorrow, we must carefully address the demands in an expert atmosphere and with the presence of student representatives,” he was quoted as saying.
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Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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