Summoning and Interrogation of 14 Teachers and Labor Activists in Kurdistan Province

The Iran Human Rights Campaign announced that in the two weeks leading up to the start of the school year, 14 teachers and cultural labor activists in Kurdistan Province have been summoned and interrogated by government agencies of the Islamic Republic. According to the report, with the beginning of the 1403 school year, the repression and threats against protesting and demanding teachers have continued, and have even intensified in the Kurdish regions of Iran. The report mentions the situation of imprisoned teachers, stating that currently Hashem Khashtar and Javad Laleh Mohammadi are imprisoned in Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad, and Rasoul Badaghi is in Evin Prison in Tehran. Meanwhile, the judiciary of the Islamic Republic had previously sentenced six teachers in Fars Province to house arrest with electronic ankle monitors due to their labor activities. Based on the findings of this organization, security pressures and threats against teachers, especially in small towns and cities, have intensified over the past year through various arbitrary methods, including summons and disciplinary case fabrications. Since the beginning of the 1402 school year, arrests and pressures against teachers and labor activists have continued. Among these actions, several teachers who participated in Teacher's Day protests at the invitation of the teachers' union have been arrested. During this time, several other teachers have also been arrested or summoned by security forces in various cities. The solidarity of teachers' labor struggles during the nationwide protests of 1401 and the examination of their repression is another focus of this report. In this regard, Mohammad Habibi, spokesperson for the teachers' union, refers to the systematic pressures of the Islamic Republic and the silencing of demands in educational units, citing the 'dismissal of 320 teachers.' Additionally, during the nationwide protests of 1401, the judiciary of the Islamic Republic issued prison sentences for at least 28 teachers, with two protesting teachers sentenced to 74 and 70 lashes in addition to imprisonment, and over 20,000 school principals dismissed from their positions. Furthermore, thousands of teachers are facing disciplinary actions that threaten their jobs. The report adds that teachers' rights activists emphasize that their protest movement goes beyond limited economic demands. 'Opposition to ideological education,' 'insistence on the right to free education,' 'protest against the privatization of education,' and demands for 'adequate educational facilities for all students' are other significant demands of Iranian teachers. These demands reflect deeper concerns about the future and quality of the educational system in Iran. Protests by retirees in Kermanshah: 'Imprisoned teacher must be freed.' Continued reactions to the deaths of dozens of workers in Tabas; the Tehran teachers' union called for clear accountability from officials. The beginning of the month of Mehr in Iran; the school bell rang amid a shortage of over 176,000 teachers. The Administrative Justice Court confirmed the dismissal of Mohammad Hossein Sepahri from the education system.