Arrest of Several Protesting Teachers in Front of Parliament in Tehran

According to reports, the Iranian police prevented a gathering of several teachers from 'various parts' of Iran in front of the Islamic Consultative Assembly on Wednesday, July 31, and several protesting teachers were also 'arrested,' an action that faced opposition from at least one representative. According to the Iranian Labor News Agency, ILNA, quoting Mohammad Reza Khah, a member of the Teachers' Trade Association, it was planned to hold a 'peaceful silent gathering in front of the parliament this morning,' but 'the police prevented the gathering from taking place.' Mr. Khah stated that several teachers from various provinces of Iran, including Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Hamadan, Isfahan, Gilan, Mazandaran, and Razavi Khorasan, had traveled to Tehran to participate in this gathering. He also reported the arrest of 'some' participating teachers but did not mention the number of detainees. Meanwhile, Ali Motahari, a representative from Tehran in the parliament, stated that the arrest of the protesters 'will exacerbate the situation' and 'if their accusation is merely gathering and expressing opinions, the arrest is not correct.' According to the House of Representatives News Agency, affiliated with the Islamic Consultative Assembly, he emphasized that 'showing excessive sensitivity towards such gatherings, especially regarding educators, does not seem necessary or reasonable, as this group usually expresses their views and leaves.' Mohammad Hassan Abutalebi-Fard, the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, also announced that a joint committee would be formed with the presence of the Minister of Education, senior managers from the Management and Planning Organization, and selected representatives from the Education and Budget Committees of the parliament to follow up on teachers' issues. The Central Council of Teachers' Trade Associations across Iran had previously announced in a statement that teachers would demand the release of teachers' rights activists by holding a silent gathering in front of the parliament on July 31. This group stated that the gathering on Wednesday would be canceled if Ismail Abdi, the Secretary-General of the Teachers' Trade Association of Iran, was released. Mr. Abdi was arrested on Saturday, July 6, when he went to the Evin Prison Prosecutor's Office to inquire about the reason for his travel ban. He had been arrested four times between 2006 and 2009 and was sentenced to ten years in prison by the Revolutionary Court of Tehran in 2011. Currently, in addition to Mr. Abdi, several other teachers, including Ali Akbar Baghaei, Rasoul Badaghi, and Alireza Hashemi, are imprisoned. In recent months, many teachers in Iran have repeatedly held protest gatherings. For instance, a large number of teachers in several cities protested their living conditions and the policies of the Ministry of Education on April 16. Following that, 'thousands' of teachers held a 'silent gathering' in several cities on Thursday morning, May 6, at the invitation of the Iranian Teachers' Trade Association to protest 'unfair wages.' In this context, the Minister of Education of Iran will be 'interrogated' in two weeks.