Continued pressure on imprisoned teachers to “inflict security charges” on them

Three official Iranian educational organizations have called for the release of detained teachers and an end to pressure on teachers across the country in an open letter. At the same time, news has been circulating about “intense interrogation” of imprisoned teachers to “induce non-union charges.”

Following the arrest, continued pressure on the detained teachers, and the publication of news about the harsh interrogations of these teachers and the "imposition of security charges" on them in recent days, three official and nationwide organizations of educators in Iran published an open letter addressed to the heads of the three branches of government.

The letter, protesting the security forces' actions against "demanding teachers," states: "Teachers have no choice but to gather so that their voices of protest can be heard and they can receive a positive response from the authorities. But they are faced with insults, beatings, summons, arrests, detention, and imprisonment; what moral, legal, and humane standards and norms does this treatment meet?"

Instead of arresting the teachers, the authors of this letter have called for the “summoning, questioning, trial, punishment, imprisonment, and dismissal” of officials who “have direct responsibility for the demands of the educators and, instead of responding, do not even want to respect their dignity.”

These three organizations have called on the officials of the three branches of government to “order the release of teachers who have been summoned, arrested, temporarily detained, or imprisoned solely for defending the legal rights of themselves, their colleagues, and the public, and to stop the filing of cases, arrests, and summons of other teachers across the country, and to recognize their right to hold peaceful and non-violent assemblies and protests.”

Human Rights Watch said in a statement released on May 6 that 38 teachers have been arrested in Iran since May 1. According to the report, at least 17 of them remain in detention, including Mohammad Habibi, a spokesman for the Teachers' Union.

“Interrogation of imprisoned teachers to insinuate security charges”

Simultaneously with the publication of this letter, the “Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers’ Unions” announced on its Telegram channel on May 9 that, according to reports received by this channel, “Rasool Badaghi, Jafar Ebrahimi, Mohammad Habibi, and Ali Akbar Baghani have been subjected to intense interrogations in recent days to insinuate non-union accusations.”

The council, on its Telegram channel, calls “fabricated and false accusations” “the usual practice of security forces against union activists in the course of creating false projects and cases,” and writes that these forces are trying to “dishonestly link these reputable union activists to non-union issues.”

These four teachers' union activists were arrested on May 10, one day before another nationwide protest by teachers, when security forces raided their homes.

"There has been no clear response to the families' follow-up yet."

Hussein Taj, the lawyer for Mohammad Habibi and other detained teachers, said in an interview with Sharq: "Until the file is fully available to the lawyers and studied, we cannot make a precise comment about it."

He added: "However, the logical interpretation and analysis is that the reason for the arrest of four teachers is related to nationwide protest rallies by educators."

In this interview, the lawyer called the published material, including on social media, regarding the connection of these teachers with the “MKO group” “ridiculous and baseless” and emphasized: “We must ask ourselves this question: In a situation where the defendants are detained in a security ward and are in the custody of the security establishment during the interrogation phase, and none of the families, lawyers, and journalists have the slightest access to the case file, how is it possible for some people to confidently publish information about the case? Undoubtedly, the right to pursue and pursue the matter in the competent judicial authorities is reserved for these honorable teachers regarding the baseless and unjustified accusations against these individuals, and we will raise it at the first opportunity.”

Regarding the latest status of the case of the imprisoned teachers, he said: “During the past few days since the arrest of these teachers, a clear response has not yet been given to the families’ follow-up.” According to Hossein Taj, “According to the note to Article 48 of the Criminal Procedure Code, it is not possible for lawyers to enter the case and only lawyers who are trusted by the judiciary can enter at this stage.”

Mass arrests on the eve of nationwide Teacher's Day rally

The arrests of teachers and union activists occurred after the Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers' Unions called for a nationwide protest on Sunday, May 1, on the eve of Teacher's Day in Iran.

Following this call, Iranian teachers held rallies across the country on May 1 to pursue their demands. Following the publication of the call, a wave of arrests of teachers and educators' union activists by security agents took place in a number of Iranian cities.

Teachers in Iran have taken to the streets and held protests in recent months to protest their conditions and the arrests of their colleagues. Their most important demands have been “equalizing salaries for retired teachers,” “full implementation of the ranking scheme for working teachers,” and “the release of imprisoned teachers.”

The authorities' response to these protests has not been to hold teachers accountable, but rather to arrest and prosecute them.

The Tehran Revolutionary Court recently sentenced Rasoul Badaghi, a member of the Islamshahr Teachers' Union, to five years in prison on charges of "gathering and colluding against national security" and "propaganda against the system," among others.

Source: DW