Continued Pressure on Detained Teachers to ‘Impose Security Charges’ Against Them
Three official teachers’ organizations in Iran have issued an open letter calling for the release of detained teachers and an end to pressure on teachers across the country. Simultaneously, reports have emerged of ‘severe interrogations’ of imprisoned teachers to ‘impose non-professional charges’ against them.
Following arrests, continued pressure on detained teachers, and reports of severe interrogations of these teachers and ‘imposition of security charges’ against them in recent days, three official and nationwide teachers’ organizations in Iran have issued an open letter addressed to the heads of the three branches of government.
The letter protests against security measures taken against ‘demanding teachers,’ stating: “Teachers were forced to gather, perhaps so their voices of protest would be heard and they could receive positive responses from officials. But they are met with insults, beatings, summons, arrests, and imprisonment; how does this manner of treatment conform to any moral, legal, or humanitarian standard and criterion?”
The authors of the letter have called instead for the “summons, interrogation, trial, punishment, imprisonment, and dismissal” of officials who “have direct responsibility regarding the demands of educators and, instead of being accountable, do not even want to respect their dignity.”
These three organizations have asked officials in the three branches to “issue orders to release teachers who have been summoned, arrested, temporarily detained, or imprisoned solely for defending their legal rights, those of their colleagues, and the people, and to stop the file-making, arrests, and summons of other teachers across the country, and to officially recognize their right to hold peaceful gatherings and protests while avoiding violence.”
The Human Rights Watch organization stated in a statement released on May 5, that 38 teachers have been arrested in Iran since May 1. According to this report, at least 17 of them, including Mohammad Habibi, spokesman for the Teachers’ Professional Association, remain in custody.
“Interrogating Imprisoned Teachers to Impose Security Charges”
Concurrent with the release of this letter, the “Coordination Council of Iran’s Teachers’ Professional Organizations” stated on May 19 in its Telegram channel that according to reports received, “Rasoul Badaghi, Jafar Ebrahimi, Mohammad Habibi, and Ali-Akbar Baghani have undergone severe interrogations in recent days to impose non-professional charges against them.”
The council described “fabricated and false charges” in its Telegram channel as an “ongoing context of security forces against professional activists in the path of project-making and baseless file-making” and writes that these forces are seeking to “unprofessionally link these reputable professional activists to non-professional issues.”
These four teacher activists were arrested on April 30, one day before another nationwide gathering of protesting teachers, when security forces raided their homes.
“No Clear Answers Have Yet Been Provided to Family Follow-ups”
Hossein Taj, lawyer for Mohammad Habibi and other detained teachers, said in an interview with “Shargh”: “As long as the file is not completely handed over to lawyers and studied, one cannot make precise comments 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 gatherings of educators.”
This lawyer called the claims published, including on social networks, about these teachers’ connection to the “MKO” “trivial and baseless” and emphasized: “We must ask ourselves: in a situation where the accused are detained in a security ward and in the interrogation phase are under the custody of a security body, and none of the families, lawyers, and journalists have the slightest access to the file, how is it possible for some people to confidently publish file information? Undoubtedly, the right to pursue and follow up on this issue in competent judicial authorities is preserved for these honorable teachers regarding baseless and unjust charges against these individuals, and we will raise it at the first opportunity.”
Regarding the latest status of the imprisoned teachers’ case, he said: “During these few days since these teachers were arrested, no clear answers have been provided to family follow-ups.” According to Hossein Taj, “Based on the note to Article 48 of the Criminal Procedure Code, lawyers cannot enter the file, and only lawyers who are trusted by the judiciary can enter at this stage.”
Widespread Arrests on the Eve of Nationwide Teachers’ Day Gathering
The arrest of teachers and professional activists followed the call by the Coordination Council of Iran’s Teachers’ Professional Organizations for nationwide protests on Sunday, May 1, on the eve of Teachers’ Day in Iran.
Following this call, Iranian teachers held gatherings across the country on May 1 to pursue their demands. Following the release of the call, a wave of arrests of educators and professional activists by security personnel began in a number of Iranian cities.
Teachers in Iran have repeatedly taken to the streets in recent months to protest conditions and the arrest of their colleagues, holding protest gatherings. Their most important demands have been “equalization of rights for retired teachers,” “full implementation of the ranking plan for active teachers,” and “release of imprisoned teachers.”
The response of authorities to these protests, however, has not been accountability but rather the arrest and prosecution of teachers.
Tehran’s Revolutionary Court recently sentenced Rasoul Badaghi, a member of the Islamshahr Teachers’ Professional Association, to 5 years imprisonment on charges of “assembly and conspiracy against national security” and “propaganda against the system.”
Source: DW
