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Campaigners bid to free jailed teacher
Codir launches Christmas appeal for Langroodi
SOLIDARITY group Codir launched a Christmas appeal yesterday, calling for pressure on the Iranian government to release jailed teacher Mahmoud Beheshti Langroodi.
The Committee for Defence of Iranian People’s Rights (Codir) said that Mr Beheshti (pictured), a former spokesman of the Iranian Teachers Association, had gone on hunger strike in protest against the nine-year prison sentence handed down to him in June 2013.
Iranian Teachers Association board member Mohammad Habibi said that, at his trial, Mr Beheshti “was only given five minutes to defend himself and, despite his protests, there has been no change in this unjust verdict during these past years.”
Over 1,400 Iranian teachers signed a letter to the authorities last week demanding justice for their member.
“As you are aware, educators and teachers have been trying to assist in solving the problems of finance and the conditions of schools in disadvantaged areas and for changing the education system,” they wrote.
“Unfortunately, in the meantime, a number of teachers and educators have been arrested and imprisoned for reasons contrary to the constitution.”
The letter went on to urge the authorities to release Mr Beheshti and arrange for his retrial in a legally constituted court in the presence of a jury to decide his case.
It drew particular attention to International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions 87, on freedom of association, and 98, guaranteeing the right to collective bargaining.
Codir fears for the fate of a number of other trade unionists imprisoned for engaging in nothing more than trade union activity.
These include Teachers Association members Esmail Abdi, Ali-Reza Hashemi, Rassoul Bodaghi, Mahmood Bagheri, Mohammad Davari and Abdulreza Ghanabri along with Behnam Ebrahimdzadeh and Mohammad Jarrahi of the Painters and Decorators Union.
Codir assistant general secretary Jamshid Ahmadi, stressed that “trade union rights are human rights. Over the years we have received many reports of workers and trade unionists being arrested, imprisoned, fired and deprived of their livelihood.
“Many trade union activists are serving prison sentences for the sole offence of being trade unionists and campaigning for decent wages and improved working conditions. No workers should be detained in prison for demanding their internationally accepted rights.”
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