Mehdi Amini-Zadeh is a ”starred” student. A 28-year-old with a studious look, he won a place last year to do a masters degree in political science at Mofid University in Qom, Iran’s holy city. But when he went to register the day before classes began, he was told he had been refused entry to his course. ”They said the order had come from the intelligence ministry. I later realised that another 21 students in Iran had the same problem. They were all ’starred’.”

We are drinking tea in a small Tehran cafe where the mugs are decorated with red hearts. Under dim lights, surrounded by shelves stacked with books and a bar that serves everything but alcohol, Amini-Zadeh tells me of his tireless lobbying to get off the student blacklist. He has three stars, the highest number. He has met politicians and written letters, so far without success.