Iranian Teacher Takes His Own Life Over Economic Hardship

An Iranian biology teacher has killed himself over what is described as financial pressures amid Iran’s 45-percent inflation rate.

The spokesman of teachers’ trade associations Mohammad Habibi said in a tweet on Thursday that Mostafa Ranjbaran was a high school teacher in the city of Minab in the southern province of Hormozgan, and described his death as another catastrophe for the community.

Habibi added that such suicides among teachers, workers, retirees, and students is a kind of systematic murder, saying the authorities of Islamic republic are responsible for the deaths.

In recent months, there have been other reports about teachers committing suicide due to financial problems, including Gholamabbas Yahyapour, a mathematics teacher from the city of Gerash in the Fars province who killed himself in September.

On Wednesday, a street vendor in the western city of Khorramabad set himself on fire after an argument with municipality who stopped his business.

Teachers held demonstrations in many cities this week to follow up on their demands for higher pay and release of their colleagues arrested in previous rounds of protests.

People from different walks of life, including nurses, firefighters, and even staff members of the judiciary department and prison guards, have held regular protest rallies or strikes to demand higher salaries.

Food prices have risen by more than 60 percent in recent months, on top of high inflation in the previous three years, while teachers earn less than $200 a month.