NCRI – As the schools open and while noble and freedom-loving teachers prepare themselves for their nationwide gathering and protest on the International Teachers Day on October 5, suppressive measures against teachers’ activists have intensified.
On 6 September 2015, Iranian regime’s intelligence elements arrested teachers’ activist Mr. Mahmoud Beheshti Langeroudi and confiscated some of his personal belongings at his home. A day prior to his arrest (on September 5), he had raised teachers’ issues and demands with Mohammad Bagher Nobakt, speaker of Hassam Rouhani’s government.
Similarly, on August 31, two other teachers, Messrs. Mohammadreza Neiknejad and Mehdi Bohlouli, were arrested.
On 3 September 2015, the teachers’ association called the charges against the apprehended teachers as “defense of teachers’ rights”, “advising observance of pupils’ rights”, “opposition to turning education into a trade”, and emphasizing on the need for “free general education”. It went on to stress that Rouhani’s government has not “introduced any fundamental change despite its vociferous slogans”.
Meanwhile, Messrs. Esmail Abdi, Rasoul Bodaqi and Aliakbar Baghbani continue to languish in prison on mullah-fabricated charges of “propaganda against the system” and “activities against the national security”. Mr. Bodaqi is being held in prison albeit the fact that his sentence is over.
Ms. Soheila Sadeq, Chair of the Education Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, called on international education organs and teachers unions in various countries to condemn the oppression of teachers and violation of their basic rights by the theocratic dictatorship and to support the demands of the Iranian teachers and their upcoming nationwide gathering on October 5.
She added: “The crumbling and corrupt regime of Velayat-e faqih that spends all the assets of the Iranian people on anti-nationalistic nuclear projects, its regional warmongering, and the slaughter of Syrian, Iraqi, Lebanese, Yemeni… peoples has no concern whatsoever for the livelihood of teachers and laborers and the condition of education for the Iranian children and youth nor for the prosperity and advancement of the people. As long as this regime is in power, the economic and social crises would only escalate. Ending poverty, inflation, unemployment and the abhorring condition of education in Iran is contingent on the toppling of the theocratic fascism and the establishment of democracy in Iran.”
Education Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
September 8, 2015
