Iranians residing in Canada rallied on Tuesday opposite the site of an annual global education congress to protest human rights abuses facing teachers in Iran.
“War, political turmoil and diplomacy aren’t usually the first terms that come to mind when it comes to education. But lack of world peace and tenable living conditions for teachers were among the more prominent discussion points at the Education International’s Seventh World Congress, made all the more visible by a peaceful protect held outside Ottawa’s Shaw Centre,” the Ottawa Citizen reported.
“The National Council of Resistance of Iran organized the protest outside of the conference site to demand the release of imprisoned teachers in Iran.”
“In particular, the organization pinpointed the case of Esmail Abdi, the Iranian Teachers Union leader who was supposed to attend the conference. But, after being denied a visa to visit the conference, former MP David Kilgour said, his passport was confiscated and he was arrested in Tehran.”
“There’s no valid reason for placing him under arrest,” Kilgour told the Canadian paper.
Hamid Gharajeh, who helped organize the protest, said the arrest of Abdi was symbolic of a larger problem in Iran, where “any person who speaks out against the government” faces suppression.
“They’re executing people left and right in Iran,” he said.
Although the issue of peace is not extremely visible to those who are “privileged enough to live in the West,” conflict around the world throws up road blocks to education, said Timo Linsenmaier, senior co-ordinator of communications at Education International.
“We have members in Iraq and Iran that are actually suffering quite a lot from their government,” he said.
Linsenmaier said some conference attendees faced a few problems with governmental issues, including a few delegates who were “denied visas on a not-very-transparent” basis.
The conference, which is held once every four years, draws representatives from more than 400 affiliates across the world, representing more than 32 million teachers.
The delegates discuss major issues facing the world of education, reach a consensus on how to minimize the problems in the future, and present the resolution to applicable parties. The conference, which has been held in cities around the globe including Cape Town and Berlin, continues at the Shaw Centre until July 26.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) is Iran’s Parliament-in-exile, based north of Paris. Its main component is the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, PMOI (Mujahedin-e Khalq, MEK).
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