NCRI – On Tuesday, December 30, 2008, a first-grade school teacher was killed in a suspicious way by the mullahs’ Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) agents in the southern city of Dezful. According to obtained reports, Mr. Ahmad Taqavi, a hardworking teacher, had gone to meet with a regime official in Dezful to express his protest against the delaying of his pay and the deplorable living conditions of his family. The crime occurred when he was returning home from this meeting. His body was found the day after on the bank of Dez River in Dezful. Under pressure from the mullahs’ MOIS, the medical examiner in Dezful has held back from reporting autopsy results to the family of the deceased.
In a separate development, on December 31, 2008, hundreds of respectable and neglected employees in the field of education in Tehran gathered in front of the mullahs’ Majlis (Parliament – located in front of the Baharestan Square) in protest to delaying of their pay as well as the collapse of the “Government Executive Services Regulations” in Majlis. From the very beginning of the protest gathering, the mullahs’ MOIS agents began to harass and threaten teachers and gather information about their identities. They also collected the teachers’ cell phones. The regime’s suppressive agents filmed this act of protest. They arrested 12 teachers, initially transferring them to the detention centre no. 11 (Baharestan) and later to a court located in Moallem Avenue. Fearing escalation of teacher protests, the suppressive agents were forced to release the detainees in the end.
It is worth mentioning that during the years the mullahs have been in power, Iranian teachers and hardworking education employees have not gained anything but humiliation, suppression, and drowning further under the poverty line. In addition to widespread suppression, this neglected and honorable social sector has always faced problems such as lack of employment, long delays in pay and monthly benefits, and poverty. These regrettable circumstances have given rise to sustained teacher protests against the ruling mullahs.
Ms. Soheila Sadegh, Chairwoman of the Education Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, condemned the suspicious murder of the young teacher, Ahmad Taqavi, by the mullahs’ MOIS agents, while hailing those teachers who have risen up. She called on human rights advocates, and teacher and education unions and syndicates in various countries around the world to condemn the suppression of Iranian teachers and adopt measures to help realize the rights of their Iranian colleagues. She also called on students and universities around the world to support Iranian teachers.
Education Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
January 4, 2009
