A vast number of teachers are in jail
With the spread of protests across the country among the teachers, security pressures and threats against them have increased. The Coordinating Council of Cultural Trade Unions has condemned the security crackdown on teachers and called for the unconditional release of all imprisoned teachers.
Some of the teachers arrested in recent weeks include:
– On the January22, 2022 Hossein Ramazanpour, a teacher in Bojnourd city, a member of the board of directors of the North Khorasan Cultural Association, was sent to Bojnourd city Central Prison to serve a six-months prison sentence. He is accused of “spreading lies with the intention of disturbing the public mind”. He was also fined two million Iranian Tomans.
-Early on Wednesday, January 19, 2022, Mohammad Taghi Fallahi, secretary general of the Tehran Teachers’ Union, was arrested at his home by security forces and transferred to prison, to serve his six-months prison sentence. In a statement, the Tehran Teachers’ Union condemned the arrest of the secretary general of the organization, called for his and other imprisoned teachers’ unconditional release, and warned that if this process of repression and intimidation continues, the government would face more widespread protests by the union and teachers. Teachers’ organizations in different cities have also condemned the arrest of Mohammad Taghi Fallahi. On January 1st a group of teachers and social activists met with the family of Mohammad Taghi Fallahi and expressed their solidarity.
– On Sunday, January 13, 2022, Maryam Kabiri, a teacher in Tehran’s Education District 2, was arrested by Intelligence forces while leaving her home. After inspecting her home, she and her husband were transferred to Evin Prison. Maryam Kabiri has been in contact with her family only once for a few minutes during the 11 days of her arrest. Despite her illness, Branch 6 of the Evin Martyr’s Investigation Branch refuses to deliver his medicines, despite the family’s insistence.
The Coordinating Council of Cultural Trade Unions has called on teachers to go through two stages of strikes and large-scale nationwide rallies to pursue their demands. One issue of teachers’ protests is the protest against the securitizing of their struggles . Their demand is closing all security cases against teachers’ protests . In addition to Mohammad Taghi Fallahi, Maryam Kabiri, and Hossein Ramezanpour, a number of other teachers, including Ismail Abdi, Mohammad Reza Ramezanzadeh, Yaghoub Yazdani, Nahid Fath’alian, Zeinab Hamrang, Masoumeh Askari, Hashem Khaksar, Mohammad Hossein Sepehri, and Mohammad Dikbar, are in prison.
All imprisoned teachers must be released immediately and unconditionally. Teachers are an important force in the movement for the release of political prisoners, the movement against the securitizing of the struggles and the closure of security cases, the movement against the silent killings in prisons and the protest against the deplorable state of prisons. Among them teachers are the initiators of powerful campaigns for the release of imprisoned teachers. Free Them Now strongly supports these protests and campaigns.
Januar25,2022
Shahla.daneshfar2@gmail.com https://free-them-now.com