The Office for Strengthening Unity (also Office for Consolidating Unity, ) is an Iranian student organization created in 1979, and has been described as "the country's most well-known student organization," and "Iran's leading prodemocracy student group". Founded in 1979 as a conservative Islamist organization to combat leftist, more secular, student groups, the OSU has evolved to support democracy and reform in Iran and thus is now in opposition to the political heirs of its founders.
History
Origins
Originally known as the Office for Strengthening of Unity Between Universities and Theological Seminaries (Daftar-e Tahkim-e Vahdat-e Hozeh va Daneshgah), according to Iranfocus.com, the OSU was set up by Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, at a time when Beheshti was Iranian Supreme Ruler Ruhallah Khomeini's top confidant and a key figure in the clerical leadership. Beheshti wanted the OSU to organise Islamist students to counter the influence of the opposition Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK) among university students.
In 2001, Ali Afshari, one of the leaders of OSU, was sentenced to five years in jail: four years "for acting against national security by participating in the Berlin Conference, six months for establishing a crisis centre" in the OSU, and "six months for disseminating propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran." He and Akbar Atri gave a controversial lecture in a lecture hall in US congress in 2006.
In 2002 the OSU was "divided into two wings" over the question of whether to boycott the presidential election. "The majority 'Allameh' faction" wanted "to withdraw from the political system" and boycott the election, whereas the minority "pro-conservative" 'Shiraz' faction" generally favored participation and "operating within the current political framework."