Release of Mostafa Rabati, Member of the Teachers' Trade Association; Following Violent Arrest

Mostafa Rabati, a retired teacher and member of the Teachers' Trade Association of Khorasan, was arrested by security forces of the 'Special Unit' on Sunday, June 20, after participating in a protest gathering of retired teachers in Tehran. He was on his way back to Shirvan when he was detained and taken to an unknown location, but was released a few hours later. According to reports from human rights and trade union websites, his arrest followed his participation in the protest in front of the Ministry of Education in Tehran, where he read the protesters' statement. Previously, the HRANA news agency reported that Mostafa Rabati was attacked and beaten by security forces while returning to Shirvan in his personal car. Rabati has a history of judicial confrontations and convictions due to his trade union activities in Khorasan. The Coordination Council of Teachers' Trade Associations of Iran reported that nearly 2,000 retired teachers participated in this protest, demanding attention to their grievances. Their demands included the payment of retirement bonuses, back wages from their employment period, and the proper, complete, and swift implementation of laws for calculating retirement salaries. Other demands read by Rabati at the protest included the payment of back wages related to retirement, changes in rank during employment, and the application of rank changes in retirement salaries. Previously, on Tuesday, May 21, the Coordination Council of Teachers' Trade Associations of Iran issued a statement regarding the death of Ebrahim Raisi, referring to his presidency as 'the darkest stains on the sky of the Ministry of Education.' This statement addressed the security and judicial confrontations with teachers and teacher activists, announcing that several teachers and activists, such as Rasoul Badaghi, Hashem Khastaar, Asghar Amirzadegan, Aman Jalali Nejad, Amir Esmaeili, Taher Asgharpour, Mahmoud Malaki, Ahmad Alizadeh, Zeinab Hamrang, Javad Laleh Mohammadi, Fatemeh Tadrisi, Nahid Shirpish, Siavash Ebrahimi, Najat Anvar Ebrahimi, Souma Mohammadpour, Ashkan Fahim, and Aziz Ghasemzadeh, are currently detained on security charges or are serving their sentences. Additionally, Mohammad Habibi, spokesperson for the Tehran Teachers' Trade Association and a member of the Coordination Council, mentioned in an interview with 'Emtidad' on Teacher's Day in Iran (April 12) that 61 teachers are facing open judicial cases, 10 teachers have been released from prison with electronic ankle monitors, and some are still in prison. The violent arrest of Mostafa Rabati followed his participation in the protest of retired teachers in Tehran. A statement with 700 signatures indicated that the lives of imprisoned teachers Iraj Rahnama and Gholamreza Gholami are at risk, and heavy prison sentences for members of the board of the Khorasan North Teachers' Trade Association have been confirmed.