National Teachers' Organization in Iran Condemns Systematic Suppression of Labor Activists

Despite the claims of the government of Masoud Pezeshkian regarding addressing labor issues and pursuing a 'reconciliation' approach in Iran, the problems faced by educators remain unresolved, and instead, the pressure from the security and judicial apparatus of the Islamic Republic on teacher union activists has intensified. Accordingly, the Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Unions condemned the 'systematic suppression of labor activists and other workers' and reported that weeks after the arrest of Razgar Roshani, a teacher from Boukan, he is still being interrogated in one of the detention centers of the Intelligence Department in Urmia. This teacher union activist was arrested by the security forces of the Islamic Republic on the second of Mehr (September 24) and no information has been provided regarding the charges against him. Furthermore, Mr. Roshani has only spoken to his family once by phone and is deprived of the right to meet with a lawyer. The national teachers' organization in Iran also reported that Mohammad Hasan Poore, another teacher union activist, was arrested at his home by security forces and transferred to Evin Prison. According to the Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Unions, no information is available regarding the charges against Mr. Poore either. In another report, it was mentioned that Aman Jalalizadeh, a painter and art teacher, remains in an unspecified condition in Shiban Prison in Ahvaz seven months after his arrest. The council's Telegram channel, quoting Amir Jalalizadeh, his brother, stated: 'Seven months after Aman’s arrest, his case has still not been sent to court.' The report indicated that Aman Jalalizadeh spent 37 days in solitary confinement without access to a lawyer and awareness of his rights after his arrest on the 21st of Farvardin (April 10), and his detention has been extended for various reasons until today. In recent years, the trend of security and judicial confrontations by the Islamic Republic with teachers and their labor activists has intensified, leading to widespread criticism from trade unions around the world. Meanwhile, over a thousand teachers in Kurdistan province expressed their support for cultural labor activists in a letter. The letter stated: 'Iran's education system is facing numerous issues, including declining education quality, academic failure, dropout of hundreds of thousands of students, teacher shortages, and dissatisfaction among teachers.' This letter criticized the adverse conditions in the education sector in Iran and addressed the security confrontations with activists, stating: 'The consequences of these confrontations are the current deplorable conditions of the country's education system.' The signatories of the letter called on the Pezeshkian government to listen to the voices of teachers and fulfill his electoral promises to resolve educators' issues. Accordingly, the letter emphasized that if conditions do not improve and the government remains indifferent, the teachers' community in Kurdistan province will not remain silent and will take any legal action, including protests and sit-ins, to support their colleagues. The repeated summons of Peyrooz Nami, a teacher union activist from Khuzestan, to the Revolutionary Court, the Ministry of Education's prohibition on 'reading philosophical books and having mustaches,' and the Iranian Free Workers' Union's assertion that the freedom-seeking of teachers, university professors, and youth cannot be suppressed are also noteworthy. Additionally, the criticism from teachers' unions in Iran regarding the security and judicial confrontations with Mohammad Habibi and Ismail Abdi, and the response of the Pezeshkian government spokesperson to labor protests, stating that 'our budget is limited,' further highlights the ongoing challenges faced by educators. The national teachers' organization in Iran condemned the continued suppression of teacher union activists under the Pezeshkian government.