Salary Cut of Mohammad Habibi, Imprisoned Teacher

Following reports about the salary cut of Mohammad Habibi, an imprisoned teacher, Fatemeh Saidi, a representative from Tehran in the parliament, announced that she has informed government and judicial officials about this issue. Ms. Saidi tweeted that on Saturday, July 30, she met with the wives of Mohammad Habibi and Mahmoud Beheshti, two imprisoned teachers. This parliament member reported that the requests of the families of these two imprisoned teachers, including the transfer of Mohammad Habibi to Evin Prison and the issue of his salary cut, have been "transmitted" to judicial and government officials, and she hopes that the "issue" of these two teachers will be resolved. Previously, some websites, including the Human Rights Campaign in Iran, reported that the Education Department had cut Mohammad Habibi's monthly salary. This website quoted an unnamed member of the teachers' trade union, stating that security-judicial officials also transferred Mohammad Habibi from Evin detention center to Greater Tehran Prison "in violation of the law" before the court ruling was issued. According to this report, Mr. Habibi's family must spend "a whole day" to visit him; the family's request is that if he is not released, he should be transferred to detention according to the law. Hossein Taj, Mohammad Habibi's lawyer, has reported that his client's court hearing will be held on August 1 at the Tehran Revolutionary Court. Mohammad Habibi, a teacher rights activist, was arrested on Thursday, May 10, during a teachers' protest along with several other teachers, and while other detainees were released on a 50 million tomans bail, Mr. Habibi's detention continued, and his case was sent to court. Mr. Habibi was also violently arrested last Esfand in Shahriar in front of the school where he taught, but was released after 44 days upon posting a 250 million tomans bail. Mahmoud Beheshti Langroudi, according to his lawyer, has been sentenced to five years in prison due to the aggregation of his sentences. Mr. Beheshti ended a 14-day hunger strike on July 26 in protest against the handling of his case. Ismail Abdi is another teacher rights activist who is currently in prison. Rasul Badaghi, Abdolreza Ghanbari, Mahmoud Bagheri, Nabiollah Bastani, and Ali Akbar Baghaei are among the teachers who have been imprisoned or exiled in recent years.