Teachers’ Day in Iran: Imprisoned Teacher on Hunger Strike; Another Teacher Punished for Singing

As Iran marks what is called Teachers’ Day, Ismail Abbadi, former secretary general of the Teachers’ Professional Association, is on hunger strike in prison, and a teacher from Gilan has been exiled for singing in an art class.

The 12th of Ordibehesht in Iran’s official calendar is Teachers’ Day and the beginning of Teachers’ Week. On the eve of this day, Ismail Abbadi, former secretary general of the Teachers’ Professional Association, who is currently serving a 6-year prison sentence, announced through a letter that he has begun a protest hunger strike.

In his letter, Mr. Abbadi stated that “in the post-JCPOA atmosphere, the calls of officials for rule of law, democracy, human rights, and civil freedoms have fallen on deaf ears,” and reported repeated violations of the rights of teachers’ union activists and their arrests and “brief” trials.

This labor rights activist also stated that “in protest against the lack of independence of the judiciary in issuing security charges against activists of teachers’ and workers’ unions” and requesting that his case be transferred from “security to ordinary” status, he began a protest hunger strike from the 10th of Ordibehesht.

On the other hand, the Teachers and Workers’ Rights website reported that Aziz Ghasem Zadeh, spokesperson of the Gilan Teachers’ Professional Association and an art teacher in Bandar Anzali, has been sentenced to one year of “exile.”

According to this report, the Gilan Education Organization transferred this art teacher, who works in the field of music and is a teachers’ labor rights activist, on charges of singing a composition in art class, to Rudbar city.

On the 19th of Esfand of last year, following a call published on social media, groups of teachers in various Iranian cities took to the streets, carrying signs demanding attention to their professional demands.

These gatherings were held in Tehran in front of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and in other cities in front of education offices. Reform of the teachers’ salary payment system and health insurance were among the demands of teachers who participated in these gatherings.

Posters calling for the cancellation of judicial convictions of teachers’ labor rights activists were also visible.

Source: Voice of America