Iran arrests Kurdish teachers amid crackdown on demonstrators

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iranian security forces recently arrested two Kurdish teachers in a single town, one of whom had reportedly called on coworkers to participate in the mid-November strikes, a rights group said on Sunday.

Police arrested Omed Sha-Mohammadi, a teacher from the Kurdistan Province city of Divandarreh (Diwandara), on Nov. 19, Hengaw, a group writing on human rights violations involving Kurds in Iran, reported.

Sha-Mohammadi was apprehended “on allegations of motivating [coworkers] to partake in the general strikes in Iran,” a source familiar with the case told Hengaw

Two days later, a police unit stormed the home of Hamed Nargesi, another teacher from Diwandara, and took him to an unknown location, Hengaw added.

“The security forces did not have an arrest warrant when they raided the teacher’s house and later transported him to an unknown location,” an informed source told the group.

It is unclear on what charges authorities arrested Nargesi.

On Nov. 13, over a dozen major Iranian cities saw a coordinated strike by school teachers. The affair continued for a second day as disgruntled educators protested issues of, among others, collapsing living standards.

In photos the teachers later posted to social media outlets, they held up slogans which read: “We protest the state of education [in Iran],” “We protest against the [low] living standards,” “Promote teachers’ dignity and livelihoods.” Other signs indicated the economic status of the average Iranian: “Poverty line at 6 million Tomans, teachers’ salary 2 million Tomans [475 USD].”

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany