The same sort of thing is happening in Iran. What's Mistry's novel about?
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/13/international/middleeast/13IRAN.html
Protests Grow in Iran Over Death Sentence for Professor By NAZILA FATHI
TEHRAN, Nov. 12 — About 5,000 angry students gathered at Tehran University today as protests grew over the death sentence issued to a reformist scholar close to President Mohammad Khatami.
"We wish they'd realize that one day, people's patience will end and that we are the last generation who speaks to them in this language," a student said over the microphone to cheers from protesters carrying a portrait of the scholar, Hashem Aghajari.
Mr. Aghajari was sentenced to death last week after a closed trial, charged with apostasy for a speech he gave in August in which he challenged the rule of hard-line clerics.
The protests, which began four days ago, have spread to two other major universities in Tehran, Amir Kabir and Shahid Beheshti, where meetings were held today. The daily newspaper Hambastegi reported that on Monday, there also were protests in Kerman, Tabriz, Isfahan, Orumieh and Hamedan.
Students said today that the sentence was an insult to the university community and violated freedom of speech, and they demanded Mr. Aghajari's immediate release. They chanted slogans against Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the hard-line chief of the country's judiciary, and threatened an uprising.
The demonstrations are the largest since 1999, when students staged a week of protests throughout Iran after a dormitory in Tehran was attacked by vigilantes and a student was killed.
Many Iranians say it is unlikely that Mr. Aghajari will be executed. Politicians have said the hard-liners' intention is to intimidate reformers and to force President Khatami to withdraw two proposed laws that would limit the power of the hard-line Guardian Council, which has the power to reject laws and candidates for office, and the judiciary.
One speaker at the protests today, Meysam Yousefzadeh, urged Parliament and Mr. Khatami's government to stand firmly behind the two bills or resign.
One professor at Tehran University who joined the march said the mood was tense and frustration high. Students had become outspoken in expressing political opinion in class, he said, and had indicated they were weary of the continuing suppression.
The demonstration today lasted over six hours and ended peacefully. A large number of security forces and riot police were stationed outside the campus. Students said that six protesters had been arrested on Monday and that one was badly beaten. Another demonstration is planned Wednesday.
As the protests widened, Iran's supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said he would call on "the public force" to intervene if problems were not solved by the regular police forces.
He did not elaborate, but the term "public force" generally refers to the hard-line Revolutionary Guards and the militia, which fall under his authority. The militia was used to suppress the 1999 student uprising.
Ayatollah Khamenei also warned judges to be mindful of how the judiciary conducted its operations "in order to avoid giving pretext to enemies or friendly criticism for challenges."
In a news conference today, Mr. Aghajari's political party, the Organization for Islamic Mujahedeen of the Revolution, urged protesters to exercise restraint.
"We urge students not to let their demonstrations get beyond peaceful civil protests, because there are groups that wish to use such circumstances to militarize the situation," said Behzad Nabavi, a leading reformist and member of the party.