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While welcoming the 15 April release on bail of Iranian educator unionist Mohammad Habibi after 44 days of detention, Education International urges the Iranian authorities to set jailed trade unionists free.

Education International welcomes the release of Mohammad Habibi, teacher and board member of the Tehran branch of the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Association (ITTA). He had been arrested on 3 March in front of his students. Habibi is one of many independent trade union members harassed by Iran’s public authorities.

Esmail Abdi on hunger strike

Other Iranian teacher unionists known to be in jail are Mohammad Beheshti Langroudi and Esmail Abdi – the latter is a leader of the ITTA’s Tehran branch. On 17 April, Abdi, unjustly sentenced to six years in prison by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Court, started a new hunger strike to protest against his detention conditions and request a fair treatment of his case. He has also denounced the violation of workers’ rights in Iran.

International solidarity

For years, Education International (EI) has condemned the continued harassment and imprisonment of Iranian education unionists for their legitimate union activism and their work in favour of quality public education. With LabourStart, EI has launched a campaign urging Iran’s public authorities to release Abdi and other detained unionists. You can participate here

Education International and its global affiliates continue to support teachers and free trade unions in Iran. Abdi was recently awarded the International Solidarity Award by the UK’s National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) in recognition of his commitment to fighting for the rights of teachers and for quality education in his country.