Five Iranian Teachers Each Receive Two-Year Sentences

The Coordination Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Associations has revealed that five teacher activists have been sentenced each to two years in prison after an appeal.

Gholamreza Gholami, Mohammad Ali Zahmatkesh, Iraj Rahnama, Afshin Razmjou, and Asghar Amirzadegan, along with other educators, were detained between March and May 2023. Rahnama and Gholami initiated a hunger strike on January 13, 2024, in protest to their sentences in Shiraz.

Initially, the Shiraz Revolutionary Court handed down a collective 34-year prison term to the five teachers, along with three others, in June. Gholami received an 11-year sentence, while Amirzadegan, Razmjou, Rahnama, and Zhametkesh were each sentenced to five years.

In addition to prison time, they were all subjected to two years of travel bans with passport confiscations and two years of online activity prohibitions as supplementary penalties. Gholami also faced an additional two-year exile in Birjand, located in the northeast of Iran.

However, following their appeals, the court has now reduced their prison sentences to two years each.

Meanwhile, retired teacher Omid Nasirifar was summoned by security authorities in Tehran, highlighting the ongoing pressure faced by educators.

Iranian educators have long been campaigning for higher salaries and pensions, as they are among the lowest-paid government employees. Furthermore, they have expressed their opposition to gas poisonings of schoolgirls, a crisis that surfaced in Iran last year, affecting numerous schools and impacting thousands of students.