Even teachers feel no mercy in Iran

By Massoud 

Summer is ending and schools are opening across the globe. Teachers are always considered kind and giving individuals who care for their students and strive to give their all, knowing they are raising their country’s next generations. In Iran, teachers have always been viewed with such respect and students are ever grateful for their efforts. However, the cruel Iranian regime actually feels threatened from teachers in Iran because they enlighten the youth, and they themselves are always a source of protests demanding their rights.

Currently, Iranian teachers are preparing themselves for nationwide gatherings and protest rallies marking International Teachers Day on October 5^th, and already suppressive measures against teachers’ activists have intensified.

On September 6^th the Iranian regime’s intelligence agents apprehended arrested teacher-activist Mr. Mahmoud Beheshti Langeroudi at his home and confiscated much of his personal belongings. A day prior to his arrest he had raised teachers’ issues and demands with Mohammad Bagher Nobakt, the speaker of Hassan Rouhani’s so-called government.

On August 31, two other teachers, Messrs. Mohammadreza Neiknejad and Mehdi Bohlouli, were also arrested.

On 3 September 2015, the teachers’ association called the charges against the apprehended teachers as “defense of teachers’ rights”, “advising observance of pupils’ rights”, “opposition to turning education into a trade”, and emphasizing on the need for “free general education”. Their statement went on to stress that Rouhani’s government has not “introduced any fundamental change despite its vociferous slogans”.

To make things worse, based on reports received from inside Iran one of the ten prisoners executed on Monday, September 7^th in Ghezel Hessar Prison, Karaj, west of Tehran, was a teacher identified as Mahmoud Barati.

Amnesty International had issued a statement on Monday demanding Barati’s execution be halted. However, henchmen in Iran neglected this call and had this teacher executed. Barati was a teacher from the city of Taibad and he was innocent. He was in various prison and torture chambers for 9 years and there was no narcotics found in his possession, in contrast to the claims raised by the Iranian regime.

It is also worth noting that the Iranian regime makes life miserable for these teachers. A deprived Iranian teacher in the city of Songhor set himself ablaze in the courtyard of this city’s governorate administrative offices, Hrana reported on Sunday, August 31st.

The Iranian regime’s official IRNA news agency reported after initial testing forensics were only able to clarify the deceased individual being a man as the burns were extremely deep. This victim was 59 years old.

Anger is spreading amongst the Iranian people after news of this suicide spread.

“The motive behind this suicide was problems over receiving a permit to build a home and paying the municipality taxes,” said Amir Shah-Abadi, deputy of political and security affairs in the Kermanshah governorate.

This is enough to understand that teachers, like many other people in Iran, are living under very difficult conditions. The world must raise its voice against human rights violations in Iran. Now that the Iran nuclear deal – despite the many flaws - is being finalized, the West and the entire international community should be focusing on where Tehran hurts the most and is most vulnerable: its gross human rights violations and intense crackdown on the Iranian people. This simply must come to an end.