The case of Mohammad Habibi, a teacher rights union activist, went to the Court of Appeals.

One of the lawyers for Mohammad Habibi, the arrested teacher and educator union activist, announced that his client's case has been sent to the Court of Appeals.

Hossein Taj, Mr. Habibi's lawyer, told ILNA news agency on Monday, September 16, that he is waiting for the appeals branch to be determined so that he can request to convert the arrest warrant to bail and defend his client.

Mohammad Habibi, a member of the board of directors of the Tehran Province Teachers' Union, has been sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison and 74 lashes on charges of gathering and colluding to commit crimes against national security, propaganda against the system, and disturbing public order. Seven and a half years of his prison sentence will be enforced if the appeals court does not change his sentence.

The prison sentence and flogging for this teachers' rights activist drew widespread criticism both inside and outside Iran.

On Saturday, five French labor unions wrote an open letter to the Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, asking him to pay special attention to the situation of "Mohammad Habibi," a teacher imprisoned in Darband.

The signatories of the letter, while referring to the situation of this teachers' union activist, who is deprived of receiving proper medical services, called for his immediate release.

Labor union activists in France also called in their letter for the immediate release of "all imprisoned male and female activists, including Ismail Abdi and Mahmoud Beheshti Langroudi, imprisoned teachers."

Last June, the International Education Organization, the world's largest teachers' union, issued a statement condemning the arrest of Mohammad Habibi, a union activist and board member of the Tehran Province Teachers' Union, Esmaeil Abdi, a teachers' union activist, and other imprisoned teachers, and called for their release.

Source: Voice of America