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Iran: Detained teacher unionist on hunger strike
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| In partnership with the Education International (EI). |
Iranian teacher unionist Mahmoud Beheshti Langroodi has been on hunger strike since November 26 to protest against his unfair trial and subsequent 9-year prison sentence.
Arrested on 6 September 2015, Mr Langroodi says that his trial only lasted a few minutes and was not reviewed by a competent court and was not public.
Langroodi is one of the six members of the Coordinating Council of the Iranian Teachers Trade Associations (CCITTA), affiliated to Education International, in jail. The five others are Alireza Hashemi (detained since 2007), Abdolreza Ghanbari (detained since January 2010), Rasoul Bodaghi (detained since September 2009), Ali Akbar Baghani (detained since April 2010) and Esmael Abdi (detained since June 2015).
In recent months, the Iranian government has increased the repression of teachers, trying to keep as many leading members of Iranian teachers associations as possible in prison.
Iranian teachers organised three rounds of nationwide rallies in January, March and May 2015, to protest against their poverty wages. Iranian teachers have been calling for free education for all and are strongly opposing the privatisation and commercialization of the education system and demanding that all classes meet the internationally recognized standards. For these rightful demands they have been paying heavy prices. Their last day of action on July 22nd was crushed by security forces and over one hundred teachers were arrested.
