Continuation of Teachers' Sit-in and Arrest of a Teachers' Union Official

According to reports, following the teachers' sit-in on Sunday, Mohammad Reza Ramazanzadeh, the head of the Coordination Council of Teachers' Unions of Iran in Bojnord, was arrested. The sit-in of teachers continues on Tuesday, October 23. According to Telegram channels for teachers, Mr. Ramazanzadeh has been on a hunger strike since his arrest. Mohammad Reza Ramazanzadeh is the secretary of the Teachers' Union of North Khorasan and the head of the secretariat of the Coordination Council of Teachers' Unions of Iran. Meanwhile, the Coordination Council of Teachers' Unions of Iran announced that the management of the Telegram channel of this union and the group formed on Telegram for the sit-in has been taken out of the council's control. The nationwide sit-in of teachers in various cities of Iran began on Sunday in protest against their living conditions and the arrest of teachers' union activists and, according to reports, continues. For about 17 years, teachers have gone on strike and gathered several times. Their demands include "increased salaries for all teachers and service and administrative staff (in line with other government employees)," "allocation of necessary budget for providing and standardizing educational environments according to international standards," "converting the status of contractual, substitute, and temporary staff to official and ensuring their job security," and "ensuring job security for preschool educators and educational staff working in the private sector." Teachers' unions have also repeatedly called for "the annulment of any convictions against teachers' union activists, compensation for damages incurred to them," and "abandoning the security perspective on union efforts." Recently, and in past years, several teachers' rights activists have been arrested and sentenced to long-term imprisonment, and some of them are still imprisoned. Currently, Ismail Abdi, Mahmoud Beheshti Langaroudi, Mohsen Omrani, and Mokhtar Asadi are serving their prison terms on security charges, and Rasoul Badaghi and Ali Akbar Baghaei are serving their exile in the city of Zabol. In this context, criticism of the tax situation on irregular wages of substitute teachers has emerged. Several of the teachers arrested during the gathering on Thursday were transferred to Evin Prison. Teachers are facing the challenge of "no to irregular pay slips and legal rulings." Five French unions have requested from Khamenei for the release of Mohammad Habibi. Six detained teachers in Iran have been sentenced to imprisonment and lashes. The severe government crackdown poses a risk of protests becoming "underground." What doctors and eyewitnesses recount about the injured during the protests reveals the severity of the situation. The limitations of relations between China and Iran have also become apparent amid the protests.