Atakeh Rajabi, the Dismissed Teacher and Imprisoned Activist, Released

Sajad Rajabi, the brother of Atakeh Rajabi, a dismissed teacher and teachers' union activist in Khorasan, announced her release in a message on the platform 'X' (formerly Twitter). In his message on Wednesday, January 17, he wrote: 'Your Baluchi dress reflects the sorrow and wounds of Zahedan, and your freedom smells of the suffering of the tents.' In the image published from Atakeh Rajabi's release, she appears without the mandatory hijab. According to the Coordination Council of Teachers' Trade Unions, Atakeh Rajabi has been released after completing her sentence. This teacher, who supported the protesters on December 4, was transferred to Mashhad prison to serve her two-month sentence. Based on the ruling of the 7th branch of the Revolutionary Court of Mashhad, which was also confirmed by the appeals court, Atakeh Rajabi was sentenced to six months in prison, of which two months were enforceable and four months were suspended for five years. Before her imprisonment, this dismissed teacher wrote in an Instagram note: 'Your repression is not within your power; we are endless beginnings.' Atakeh Rajabi was also arrested in Mashhad on May 8 of this year and was released a few days later after posting bail of 1.5 billion tomans from Vakilabad prison in Mashhad. Atakeh Rajabi, a teacher at Abuzar Elementary School located in one of the villages of Mashhad, was dismissed from the Khorasan education system on January 5, 2023, due to her support for nationwide protests. The Coordination Council of Teachers' Trade Unions of Iran had previously described the issuance of 'retaliatory' sentences for union activists and teachers as resulting in 'depriving students of education and stripping them of their material and cultural lives.' Continued pressures on teachers' union activists; Atakeh Rajabi was tried without reviewing the indictment. Human rights sources: Detainees in prisons face 'indecision and pressure.' Aziz Qasemzadeh, a prominent cultural activist, was permanently dismissed by the education system. Sara Siyahpour was also dismissed from the education system after a six-year prison sentence.