The Iranian government arrested Mohammad Habibi, a leader of the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers Trade Unions, April 5, at the school where he teaches in Shahryar near Tehran. He was just released from jail on Feb. 8 after nearly a year’s imprisonment. This is at least the fourth time the regime has arrested him.
Cops threatened to beat his wife and then took him to the infamous Evin Prison in Tehran.
Teachers, retirees and other workers have been holding protests across the country demanding higher wages amid an official inflation rate of at least 40%. Workers say the real inflation rate is much higher.
“Free Mohammad Habibi!” teachers chanted outside the Department of Education of Kermanshah Province April 6 during one of many protests nationwide for higher wages that day. Teachers were outnumbered by police at the protest in Alborz province and were dispersed.
The Teachers Union in Tehran stated that Habibi has committed no crime except “insisting on the right to organize the teachers union without destroying others.” Other leaders of the union have also been arrested.