Teachers and educators staged sit-ins in various cities in Iran
Images and news published on social media indicate protest sit-ins by teachers and educators in various cities in Iran.
In these images, which were published on social media and some news sites, teachers and educators at their workplaces held placards and announced their demands.
During the sit-in, teachers expressed their demands for free education for all citizens, educational justice and granting higher qualifications to teachers, salary increases in line with inflation, universal insurance, the release of imprisoned teachers, and improving the condition of schools.
In recent days, the Coordination Council of Teachers' Unions had called for a protest sit-in by teachers across Iran.
The council had announced that teachers would attend schools on October 12 and 13, but would not attend classes in protest of their union's problems.
One of the demands is the release of teachers Mohammad Habibi, Ismail Abdi, Mahmoud Beheshti Langroodi, and other imprisoned teachers.
In May of this year, teachers held a union rally in front of the Planning and Budget Organization and the Islamic Consultative Assembly, which was met with a police raid and the arrest of a number of protesters.
Among those arrested after the rally was Mohammad Habibi, an educator union activist and board member of the Tehran Province Teachers Association, who was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison and 74 lashes, of which seven and a half years are enforceable under the law. His case has been referred to the Court of Appeal.
On October 20 of this year, it was also announced that six people who were arrested during the teachers' rally on May 10 of this year were sentenced by Branch 1060 of the Criminal Court to nine months in prison and a fine of 50,000 Tomans in lieu of 74 lashes.
The arrest of teachers' union activists sparked protests from human rights organizations and some foreign union organizations, including five French labor unions.
Source: Voice of America
