Teachers’ Gathering in Isfahan ‘Turned Violent’
The Free Union of Iranian Workers reported on an attack by law enforcement forces on a gathering of active and retired teachers in front of the Isfahan General Department of Education and Training on Thursday, and the detention of several of them.
According to this union’s reports, law enforcement detained two to three of the protesters. Security officials have not commented on the matter so far.
It has been reported that security and law enforcement personnel attacked the gathering with pepper spray in order to prevent teachers and educators from assembling in Isfahan, and used tear gas to disperse the protesting educators.
Images and videos have been published on social media, particularly Twitter, with those posting these videos and images attributing them to teachers’ protests and the handling of the gathering by security and law enforcement forces on Thursday, the sixth of December.
The gathering of Isfahan educators was held in response to a call to protest low wages and demands for the release of imprisoned teachers and the equalization of retirees’ benefits. In recent years, several gatherings of educators have faced security confrontations, and some have been detained.
In May of this year as well, a protest gathering of educators in front of the Planning and Budget Organization in Tehran resulted in the detention of several teacher rights activists.
Mohammad Habibi, a member of the Iranian Teachers’ Professional Association, was among those detained, who according to teachers’ professional organizations and Mohammad Habibi’s family, was beaten during his arrest.
Eventually, sentences of flogging and imprisonment were issued for six of those detained in Tehran. In this context, Mohammad Habibi was sentenced to seven and a half years imprisonment, and three days ago, this teacher’s lawyers announced that the final ruling had been issued to them.
Currently, several teacher union activists, including Esmail Abdi, Mahmoud Beheshti Langarudi, Mohammad Habibi, Rouhollah Mordani, and Abdolreza Ghanbari, are imprisoned on security charges.
The treatment of teachers has drawn criticism from professional organizations in Iran as well as human rights organizations and labor unions around the world.
The issuance of prison sentences against union activists has drawn criticism from professional organizations in Iran, as well as human rights organizations and labor unions around the world.
Among them, five French trade unions in August of this year, in a letter addressed to the leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, held him responsible for Mohammad Habibi’s life and called for his release and that of other imprisoned teachers.
Human Rights Watch, in a statement released on Thursday, December 1st, while emphasizing that peaceful protest and strikes are among workers’ fundamental freedoms, criticized the intensification of pressure on labor activists and teachers in Iran in recent weeks.
Source: Radio Farda
