Continued Imprisonment of Hashem Khastar and Javad Laleh Mohammadi; National Teachers' Organization: It is painful that they are imprisoned for union activities

On Saturday, September 15, the Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Unions issued a statement protesting the "continued unjust imprisonment" of Hashem Khastar and Javad Laleh Mohammadi, two teachers' union activists currently in Vakilabad prison in Mashhad, and called for their release. The statement noted that over the past four decades, there has not been a period in which Hashem Khastar has not experienced imprisonment and deprivation. The council urged the judiciary, particularly the prosecutor's office in Mashhad, to facilitate the release of these teachers, considering Mr. Khastar's over five years in prison without leave and his various health issues, as well as similar problems faced by Javad Laleh Mohammadi. The union stated, "It is painful that in today's world, individuals suffer deprivations such as imprisonment for expressing opinions and engaging in union activities." Hashem Khastar, a teacher and imprisoned civil activist, is among 14 political and civil activists in Iran who, in an open letter on June 10, 2019, called for Ali Khamenei's resignation from leadership and fundamental changes to the constitution. He was arrested in August 2019 and sentenced to 16 years in prison, two years of exile to Nikshahr in Sistan and Baluchestan province, and a two-year travel ban from Iran. In April 2023, a new case was opened against him for sending his memoirs outside of prison. In July of the same year, the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Mashhad sentenced him to two and a half years in prison. The charges against Mr. Khastar in this case included "insulting Khamenei and propaganda against the regime." He suffers from heart, respiratory, and gastrointestinal diseases and, according to published reports, has not received medical care during this time. Javad Laleh Mohammadi, a writer and political and union activist from Khorasan, was arrested on August 11, 2019, while protesting in front of the General Court of Khorasan in support of "Kamali Jafari" and against the issuance of a 13-year prison sentence for him. Mr. Laleh Mohammadi was also arrested in August 2021 after participating in a gathering in Mellat Park in Mashhad in support of protests in Khuzestan and other cities. After his release, he reported being beaten and tortured. He stated that the fate of Khamenei would be like that of Saddam and Gaddafi. Before the government elections to replace Ebrahim Raisi, he described participating in the elections as "treason," referring to the "unjustly spilled blood of the dear youth of Iran and their blinded eyes and the suffering and torture and wasted lives of political prisoners." He added, "Today, if you do not demand your rights and express your opposition without cost, you will certainly have to pay with much blood in the near future." Currently, several teachers' union activists, such as Rasoul Badaghi, are imprisoned on security charges, while others are free on bail. The intensified security and judicial crackdowns by the Islamic Republic on teachers' union activists in recent years have faced criticism from international labor and teachers' unions.