NASUWT members are being urged to support their colleagues in Iran who have been imprisoned for taking part in strike action the country.
Education International (EI) and LabourStart are asking the public to sign a new petition requesting the release of jailed education trade union leaders.
Teachers have been locked up for taking strike action to demand decent wages, free quality education for all, the right to form and join independent workers’ organisations, as well as the release of all detained colleagues.
The Coordination Council of Iranian Teacher Trade Associations (CCITTA) – the Education International (EI) affiliate in Iran— reported that at least 15 teachers were arrested and many others summoned for questioning or threatened by the security services for their participation in a two-day strike action on 13 and 14 November.
In a letter to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, EI General Secretary David Edwards condemned the prolonged and severe repression faced by teachers carrying out peaceful protest actions in many cities across Iran and requested their immediate and unconditional release.
Urging Iran to abide by its international commitments to respect the rights and freedoms of all Iranian workers and citizens, Mr Edwards invited the Iranian public authorities to engage in a meaningful dialogue with teachers and their representative organisations in order to address their legitimate demands.
Last October the authorities responded to a nationwide strike of teachers and education support personnel in primary and secondary schools by expelling teachers from schools and arresting union leaders.
The situation of Iranian teacher trade unionist Mohammed Habibi, sentenced to ten and a half years in prison in August, is also extremely worrying. He is denied urgent medical treatment and his family say he is being severely mistreated.
Hashem Khastar, a retired teacher and prominent member of the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Association (ITTA) in the Khorasan Razavi province, was forcibly hospitalised in a psychiatric facility last month.
Campaigners say the use of detention in mental institutions is being used as an additional disturbing means of silencing dissident voices in Iran.
Please sign the petition requesting the release of jailed teachers in Iran.
