Teachers and Educators Hold Sit-In Protests in Various Iranian Cities
Images and news reports circulating on social media depict protest sit-ins by teachers and educators in various cities across Iran.
In these images shared on social networks and some news websites, teachers and educators at their workplaces held placards to announce their demands.
During this sit-in, teachers expressed their demands including free education for all citizens, educational justice, provision of higher credentials for teachers, wage increases commensurate with inflation, comprehensive insurance, freedom for imprisoned teachers, and improvement of school conditions.
In recent days, the Coordination Council of Teachers’ Professional Organizations had called for protest sit-ins by educators across Iran.
The council had announced that teachers would be present at schools on the 22nd and 23rd of Mehr, but would not attend classes in protest of their professional grievances.
One of the demands is the freedom of Mohammad Habibihf, Ismail Abdoli, Mahmoud Bahrami Langaroudi, and other imprisoned teachers.
Teachers also held a professional gathering in front of the Budget and Planning Organization and the Islamic Consultative Assembly in Ordibehesht of this year, which faced police raids and the arrest of several protesters.
Among those arrested following this gathering is Mohammad Habibihf, a teachers’ union activist and board member of the Teachers’ Association of Tehran Province, who was sentenced to over 10 years in prison and 74 lashes, of which seven and a half years are enforceable according to law. His case has been referred to an appeals court.
On the third of Mehr of this year, it was also announced that six people who had been arrested during a teachers’ gathering on the 20th of Ordibehesht of this year were sentenced by Branch 1060 of the Criminal Court to nine months of discretionary imprisonment and a fine of 50,000 tomans in lieu of 74 lashes.
The arrest of teachers’ union activists prompted protests from human rights organizations and several foreign professional associations, including five French labor unions.
Source: Voice of America
