Ahvaz Court of Appeals Issues Order to Halt Prosecution of Teacher Activist Pirouz Nami

The Coordination Council of Iranian Teacher Trade Unions announced that Branch 21 of the Ahvaz Court of Appeals has issued an order to halt the prosecution of Pirouz Nami, a teacher activist. Previously, the Islamic Revolutionary Court and the Criminal Court of Ahvaz had sentenced Mr. Nami to imprisonment and fines in three separate rulings. The Coordination Council attributed these rulings to 'pressure from security forces.' This teacher activist had been detained twice by the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, once for 24 days and another time for 21 days. According to this report, security forces intervened to cancel the transfer of Pirouz Nami to Alborz Province and returned him to Khuzestan, despite the fact that he had moved his home and life to Alborz and had been teaching in Alborz schools during the early weeks of the school year. Administrative, security, and judicial confrontations by the Islamic Republic with teachers and their activists have intensified over the years. For example, in May of last year, more than 200 individuals were arrested. Such actions have drawn severe criticism from teacher trade unions and labor unions worldwide. Support for imprisoned teachers was expressed during a protest by retired civil servants in Sanandaj, with slogans like 'Enough of deceit and lies, our table is empty.' Protests for the release of imprisoned teachers were also held by retired civil servants and social security retirees in Kermanshah, highlighting the ongoing pressure from the government on educators in Iran, with three teacher activists recently detained.