The house of human rights defender Rasoul Bodaghiwas raided by iran security officers in Tehran, on December 11, during which he was physically assaulted and arrested. During the arrest, security officers confiscated his and his wife’s communication devices.
He was also denied the right to wear appropriate clothing. He is reportedly held in Evin 209 Ward. However, the nature of the charges against the teachers’ rights defender remains unknown until now. The family’s attempts to get his clothes and prescription glasses delivered to him have also been unsuccessful so far.
Bodaghi is a member of the board of directors of the Iran’s Teachers’ Trade Association (ITTA), Islamshahr branch, and the inspector of the association in the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations. He had previously spent seven years in prison for his activities in organizing teachers’ protests and defending their rights.
The arrest occurred in the context of nationwide protests by teachers, starting on December 11, on the first day of a three-day sit-in and strike. The main demands of this protest were a proper classification of teachers, the harmonization of retirees’ pensions, and other educational justice requests. Since the beginning of the new school year in September, teachers have organised several protests and rallies across Iran.
The Front Line Defenders (FLD) said that this is not the first time Rasoul Bodaghi is being persecuted for defending teachers’ rights in Iran. He was arrested on 2 September 2009, and sentenced on 4 August 2010 to six years in prison. He was also banned from social activities for five years by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court under the charges of “assembly with the intent to disrupt national security” and “propaganda against the state.”
In September 2015, at the end of his jail sentence, Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court sentenced Rasoul Bodaghi to a further three years in jail under the charge of “propaganda against the state” and “insulting the supreme leader”. On 28 April 2016, the human rights defender was released from Evin prison.
Front Line Defenders expressed serious concern about the arbitrary detention of Rasoul Bodaghi, and believes that he is being detained as a result of his legitimate and peaceful human rights work in defence of teachers’ rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association in Iran.
FLD has urged Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Rasoul Bodaghi and ensure that the treatment of Rasoul Bodaghi, while in detention, adheres to the conditions set out in the ‘Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment’, adopted by UN General Assembly resolution 43/173 of 9 December 1988.
It also urged to ensure that Rasoul Bodaghi is granted his legitimate right to access to his lawyer and to his essential belongings and cease targeting all human rights defenders in Iran and guarantee in all circumstances that they are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities.
