Teachers' protest rallies in various cities in Iran
A group of teachers gathered in front of education departments in various cities across Iran on Thursday.
According to reports from some teachers' unions and images published on social media, teachers gathered today in the cities of Ardabil, Urmia, Sanandaj, Kermanshah, Marivan, and Mashhad.
The demands for the release of imprisoned teachers, improvement of their livelihoods, the right to education in their native language, an end to privatization in education, and free education were among the slogans and demands raised by the teachers at this rally.
Mohammad Habibi, Mahmoud Beheshti Langroudi, and Ismail Abdi are among the teachers' union activists currently in prison.
This is the second teachers' union rally in recent months. Various cities in Iran have witnessed teacher protest rallies in the past few months.
The handling of protesting teachers and their arrest by security forces had previously been met with protests from human rights and trade union organizations, who had called on Iran to release these teachers from prison.
This winter alone, the ten-year and six-month prison sentence and flogging sentence for Mohammad Habibi, an educator union activist and member of the board of directors of the Tehran Province Teachers' Association, was upheld by the appeals court. Between 40 and 50 teachers were arrested at a teachers' union rally in Isfahan, and in the city of Abhar (in Zanjan Province), a teachers' union activist was arrested for speaking during a protest rally.
Source: Voice of America
