Exclusive | Koukb Badaghi, Teachers' Union Activist, Sentenced to 4 Months Suspension in Izeh

The Administrative Violations Board of the Ministry of Education has sentenced Koukb Badaghi, a teachers' rights activist and a close friend of the Pirfalak family, to a four-month suspension from service for the second time. An informed source reported to the Persian section of Voice of America on Tuesday, August 13, that Koukb Badaghi, a cultural activist in Khuzestan province, was sentenced by the board for 'membership in a WhatsApp group of the Teachers' Union, cooperation and communication with the channel of the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers' Organizations,' and for sending images and texts in support of those labeled as 'security' prisoners in the mentioned channel, as well as 'activities in cyberspace.' Koukb Badaghi, a teacher from Izeh and a friend of Mahmonir Molaei Rad, the mother of Kian Pirfalak, has faced significant pressure. In recent months, a source close to the Pirfalak family informed Voice of America that the Islamic Republic's 'plainclothes' forces had not only searched Badaghi's workplace and home and confiscated her 'personal and electronic belongings,' but had also subjected her students to body searches. This source stated that government forces threatened the students 'not to speak about the incident' and warned them of severe consequences if the matter became public. According to the informed source, both Mahmonir Molaei Rad and Koukb Badaghi have long been 'deprived of access to any device that can connect to the internet' and 'do not even have a simple phone.' The mother of Kian Pirfalak, who was a teacher, was barred from continuing her work after her son was killed in a government attack on protesters on November 16, 2022, in Izeh. Currently, Koukb Badaghi, a friend and colleague of Mahmonir Molaei Rad, 'goes to school but has no means of communication' and has recently found her 'Instagram and Telegram suddenly inaccessible.'