Secretary General of the Iranian Teachers' Organization Arrested

Alireza Hashemi, the Secretary General of the Iranian Teachers' Organization, was arrested on Sunday to serve his five-year prison sentence and transferred to Evin Prison in Tehran. According to ILNA news agency, Mr. Hashemi was sentenced to five years in prison in 2010 on security charges. Tahereh Naghiyeh, Deputy of the Iranian Teachers' Organization, told ILNA that the charges against Mr. Hashemi included conspiracy and gathering with the intent to disrupt national security and propaganda against the regime. The report also noted that Alireza Hashemi had previously been arrested in March 2007 following a teachers' protest in front of the parliament, where he was sentenced to three years in prison, but that sentence was later overturned after an appeal. In the meantime, the Iranian Teachers' Organization issued a statement describing Mr. Hashemi's arrest as 'ill-considered,' stating that 'the arrest and enforcement of the sentence against an individual who is a symbol of rationality and social activism, whose demeanor and methods are devoid of tension and extremism, and whose history of honest professional activities in the teachers' community is well known, has caused astonishment and bewilderment in the heated atmosphere of the cultural community.' The Iranian Teachers' Organization further assessed the arrest of Alireza Hashemi as an action 'to divert the teachers' professional movement from the path of civility and rationality towards extremism and radicalism.' The organization, referring to the government's promises to strengthen civil institutions and create conditions for professional and political activities, called on the Minister of Education and the government of Hassan Rouhani to listen to the 'voices of teachers' rightful protests' and to take measures to prevent a security atmosphere. The Iranian Teachers' Organization also demanded the halt of Alireza Hashemi's sentence and the release of other imprisoned teachers. In recent years, several teacher rights activists, such as Rasoul Badaghi and Alireza Ghanbari, have been arrested and imprisoned on security charges. The arrest of the Secretary General of the Iranian Teachers' Organization coincided with reports of increased security pressures on teachers in recent days. These pressures followed large professional gatherings of thousands of teachers in various cities in Iran in recent months. In the latest round of protests held last Thursday, thousands of teachers in about 40 cities, including Tehran, Karaj, Qazvin, Rasht, Mashhad, Bushehr, and Yazd, expressed their professional demands and also called for the release of imprisoned teachers.