Continued Judicial Crackdown on Educators; A Teachers' Union Activist in Arak Sentenced to Prison and Flogging

In the ongoing judicial crackdown on teachers and their union activists in Iran, Abolfazl Khoran, a teachers' union activist in Arak, has been sentenced to 6 years and 8 months of prison and 72 lashes by a primary court. Simultaneously, Hossein Vahedi and Mahmoud Safdari, members of the board of the Teachers' Union of North Khorasan Province, have been summoned to the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Bojnourd. According to the Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Unions, Mr. Khoran has also been sentenced to two years of deprivation from virtual space and two years of exile to the city of Delfan. He was arrested on August 5 by the intelligence agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and was released on bail of one billion tomans after 26 days. On September 7, the Coordination Council condemned the court's ruling against Abolfazl Khoran, denouncing the 'continuation of repression and intimidation of the teachers' community' and emphasizing that 'the fundamental solution to address the protesting people is serious attention to the fundamental problems of the country and addressing their demands, and issuing these sentences and intimidation will not prevent the continuation of protests and demands of the people.' At the same time, the council reported that Hossein Vahedi and Mahmoud Safdari have been summoned for trial to the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Bojnourd. Mahmoud Safdari is the head of the Teachers' Organization of North Khorasan, and Hossein Vahedi is an inspector of the Teachers' Union of North Khorasan. According to this report, the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Bojnourd has previously formed separate cases for Zahra Ouzzadeh and Mohammad Reza Ramazanzadeh, members of the board of this union. The Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Unions stated that 'with the continuation of the repression of union activists by security agencies and disciplinary boards, it seems that the rulers have no will to resolve the teachers' demands and are merely reproducing tyranny.' In recent years, the Islamic Republic has conducted administrative, security, and judicial crackdowns against teachers and their union activists, with several imprisoned on security charges, including Ismail Abdi, Rasoul Badaghi, Jafar Ebrahimi, and Hashem Khastar. In this regard, the news website 'Kurdpa' reported this week on a new ruling for Soleiman Abdi, a member of the Teachers' Union of Saqez and Zivieh, in the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Saqez. According to this report, Mr. Abdi has been sentenced to eight months of prison for 'propaganda against the regime.' This union activist had previously been sentenced to imprisonment and flogging for another case in the 'Criminal Court Two' of this county.