According to the Telegram channel of the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations (ITTA), at least fifteen teachers’ rights defenders and members of the ITTA, including human rights defenders Mohmmad Habibi, Jafar Ebrahimi, and Rasoul Bodaghi have remained arbitrarily detained since 30 April 2022.
In the early hours of the morning of 30 April 2022, the human rights defenders were arrested, subjected to physical violence, house raids and had their electronic devices confiscated.
Arrests, house raids and confiscations of electronic devices continued to be reported during and after the teachers’ gatherings organised on 1 May 2022 in Tehran and other cities in Iran.
The arrests occurred in the context of nationwide calls for peaceful protests by the Coordinating Council of the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations (CCITTA) on the occasion of the Iranian Teacher’s day on May1. The main demands of this peaceful protest were for proper classification of teachers, the harmonization of retirees’ pensions, the release of the detained teachers’ rights defenders, the recognition of students’ rights to free education under Article 30, and teachers’ rights to peaceful assembly under Article 27 and their rights to association under Article 26 of the Iranian Constitution.
Front Line Defenders (FLD) is seriously concerned about these detentions, as it believes that these acts are directly linked to their peaceful and legitimate human rights work. It urges the Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all teachers’ rights defenders, including human rights defender Mohmmad Habibi, Jafar Ebrahimi, and Rasoul Bodaghi. Furthermore, urges them to carry out an immediate, thorough and impartial investigation into these temporary detention, threats and physical assaults
