Jafar Ebrahimi, veteran imprisoned teacher, was dismissed on charges of 'illegal sit-in'

Jafar Ebrahimi's lawyer announced that a ruling for the dismissal of his client was issued due to 'participation in an illegal sit-in.' Erfan Karam Veysi stated on Tuesday, October 4, on X (formerly Twitter) that the initial committee reviewing administrative violations at the Tehran Education Department issued and communicated the dismissal ruling after Ebrahimi's 23 years of service. The lawyer described the ruling as preliminary and subject to appeal. This news was met with reactions from some teacher activists, including Mahmoud Beheshti Langaroudi, the vice president of the Teachers' Trade Association, who criticized the ruling, stating that in recent years, hundreds of teachers and union activists have faced prison sentences, dismissals, suspensions, and various other punitive measures. Jafar Ebrahimi is among thirteen political prisoners who were exiled from Evin Prison to Qazalhesar Prison in Karaj on September 3 despite his illness. He, like the other twelve exiled political prisoners, is currently deprived of any contact or visitation rights. The Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Associations condemned Ebrahimi's exile to Qazalhesar Prison as 'inhumane and illegal' and warned about the 'serious health condition' of this imprisoned teacher. Recently, Shiva Ameli Rad, a member of the Coordinating Council of Teachers' Trade Associations, warned in an interview with Voice of America about the danger to Jafar Ebrahimi's life in prison. David Edwards, the General Secretary of Education International, also wrote an open letter on September 9, calling on the Islamic Republic to grant medical leave to Ebrahimi and Ismail Abdi, both imprisoned teachers, highlighting Ebrahimi's deteriorating health condition and his deprivation of full medical services over the past twenty months in prison. Ebrahimi, an inspector for the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Associations, was arrested in May 2022 and, despite his illness, was sentenced to five years in prison and two years of prohibition from activities and membership in groups, as well as a travel ban, on charges of 'collusion and conspiracy' and 'propaganda against the regime.' Currently, several teachers and teacher activists, including Hashem Khwastaar, Ismail Abdi, Rasoul Badaghi, Masoud Farhikhteh, Aziz Qasemzadeh, Farzaneh Nazaranpour, Anoush Adeli, Mahmoud Sedighi Pour, Mehdi Fathi, Hossein Ramadanpour, Omid Shahmohammadi, Javad Laleh Mohammadi, Mohammad Hossein Sepehri, and Jafar Ebrahimi, are imprisoned on security-related charges. Earlier, Najat Bahrami, a journalist and former deputy of public relations at the Education Ministry, spoke to Voice of America about the intensification of the crackdown on teachers, academics, and students, stating that despite decades of ideological bombardment by the Islamic Republic, the young generation of Iran is one of the 'most secular' youth generations in the world and will make history.