21/08/2022
The Islamic regime of Iran has intensified the persecution of teachers and labor activists. Mass arrests and heavy prison sentences for teachers and labor activists in the past two years are a record. Since May, more than 240 teachers have been kidnapped, arrested and imprisoned across the country. It’s so that now there is a special teachers’ ward in prisons like notorious Adel Abad prison. Under the pressure of teachers’ protests, some of them have been released recently. But their release is conditional and with heavy bails, and the cases filed against them are still open.
Teachers are an active section of protesting people in Iran. Their protests are against low salaries, poverty, discrimination, embezzlement and oppression by the government. Teachers are protesting the deprivation of a large part of children from education, and the daily increase in the number of working children. One of their urgent demands is free education for all children. The “crime” of the teachers is protesting against these problems and violation of basic people and children’s rights by the authroities. The names of the teachers who are currently in prison are: Rasul Badaghi, Ismail Abdi, Mohammad Habibi, Jafar Ebrahimi, Nahid Shirpisheh, Nahid Fatahalian, Zainab Hamrang, Masoumeh Askari, Hiva Qureshi, Omid Shah Mohammadi, Kaveh Mohammadzadeh, Parviz Ahsani, Mehdi Fathi. , Hashem Gharin, Javad Lal Mohammadi, and Mohammad Hossein Sepehri.
Free Them Now (FTN) campaign to free jailed workers in Iran, emphasizes on the immediate and unconditional release of all the imprisoned teachers, imprisoned workers and all political prisoners, and calls on all labour and teachers’ organisation to protest against these arrests and against keeping teachers and workers in prison.
August 21, 2022
Free Them Now (FTN)
shahla.daneshfar2@gmail.com