Education International (EI) urgently calls on its members to request the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran to stay the execution of Prof. Abdolreza Ghanbari, a university lecturer, who has been sentenced to death for “enmity towards God”.
EI and its member organisation in Iran, the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations (CCITTA), are launching an online campaign in partnership with LabourStart.We invite you and your members to take action now through the LabourStart website:
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=1299&src=ei
Please give high visibility to the campaign by recommending it on your website and on your Facebook account to your colleagues, to networks, to union members and friends.
Background information: Prof. Abdolreza Ghanbari
Abdolreza Ghanbari, a 44-year-old lecturer of Payam e Nour University, was arrested at his home in Pakdasht on 4 January 2010. He was charged with ‘Moharebeh’ (enmity towards God) for receiving unsolicited emails from an armed opposition group, to which he does not belong. While in detention at the notorious Evin Prison, Prof. Ghanbari has been interrogated for 25 days in a row and forced to confess under duress to unproven charges. Nasrin Sotoudeh was his lawyer until she was herself condemned to asix year sentence in Evin prison for "propaganda against the regime" and "acting against national security".
In 2007, Prof. Ghanbari had already been detained for 120 days and sentenced to a six-month suspension from teaching and exiled from Sari to Pakdasht. Prof. Ghanbari has no known political connections. He was previously involved in teacher union activities until his union ITTA was dissolved in 2007.
Prof. Ghanbari’s death sentence has been confirmed by Tehran's Appeal Court, Branch 36 in April 2010. He has since been waiting on death row. A request for pardon was rejected on February 28 by the Commission of Justice in Tehran. It means that authorities are allowed to proceed with the execution.
What EI has done:
EI and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) have requested a direct intervention of the Director General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to request that Iran annul the death penalties for trade unionists.
EI has continued, with its affiliate CCITTA, to inform the international community about the denial of union rights for public teachers. Together we submitted allegations to the UN ECOSOC International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as to the Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran. In December, in resolution 66/175 adopted by 89 member states (30 votes against, 64 abstentions), the UN voiced deep concern at Iran’s “serious on-going systematic restrictions of freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of opinion and expression”.
EI has requested the Iranian authorities to cease putting state pressure on trade unions and to release detained union activists, as well as to formally acknowledge the legitimacy of the Coordinating Council of ITTAs. EI has specifically raised concerns about the detention of teacher unionists Abdolreza Ghanbari and Rasoul Bodaghi. A number of detained teacher unionists have been released on bail in December 2011.
EI has also continued to engage in the international campaign ’Justice for Iranian Workers’ which is a network of trade union rights activists from the Global Unions and Amnesty International. EI also shared information with the Network for Education and Academic Rights (NEAR).
What your union can do:
In addition to encouraging your members to sign in the largest possible numbers the EI appeal on LabourStart, your organisations are invited to share information about attacks on teacher unions with your own country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking them to follow up your demands with the Iranian authorities.
The major demands are:
- Stay the execution of Prof. Abdolreza Ghanbari and revoke the death sentence;
- Drop all charges against all detained trade unionists and release them immediately;
- Compensate the individuals for the damages suffered as result of detentions;
- Register the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations (CCITTA) and allow it to hold trade union activities and reach out to members;
- Stop the harassment and repression against teachers, unionists and human rights defenders;
- Comply with the international labour standards and respect the rights of Iranian workers to freedom of association, assembly and expression;
- Engage in a peaceful dialogue regarding the professional concerns of teachers in Iran.
Please also copy your letter to the Iranian embassy in your country as well as to EI (headoffice@ei-ie.org or fax +32 2 224 0606)
We thank you in advance for your support.
