Two jailed Iranian educators have launched hunger strikes after authorities detained three more of their colleagues -- bringing the total to 16 -- for supporting nationwide protests over what is seen as the government's trampling of rights and freedoms.
The Coordinating Council of Teachers Syndicates in Iran said in a statement on May 11 that Atekeh Rajabi, from the city of Mashhad, and Farzad Safi Khanpor, from Sanandaj, commenced hunger strikes in protest of their arrests.
Rajabi, a prominent teachers' union activist, was dismissed from her role in January due to her public support -- conveyed through video messages -- of the recent nationwide protests.
She was arrested by security forces during a rally in front of the Khorasan Razavi Education Department in the city of Mashhad. Shortly after her arrest, security forces raided her home and detained her sister, Arezu Rajabi, for several hours.
In a phone call with her family, Rajabi revealed she was being held in solitary confinement and had begun a "dry hunger strike" since her arrest on May 9.
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Similarly, Farzadn Safi Khanpor allegedly was arrested violently during a teachers' rally in front of the Kurdistan Education Department in the city of Sanandaj on May 9. Another teacher, Fateh Osmani, was also reportedly violently detained in the western Iranian city of Sanandaj on the same day. Khanpor has since announced a hunger strike to protest his arrest, which he says was illegal.
The Coordinating Council of Teachers Syndicates said in its statement that responsibility for any harm resulting from the hunger strikes of Khanpor and Rajabi, or any other incidents involving the arrested teachers lies squarely with the judicial authorities and the security forces of the Islamic republic.
Unrest -- including several protests by teachers -- has rattled Iran since last summer in response to declining living standards, wage arrears, and a lack of welfare support. Labor law in Iran does not recognize the right of workers to form independent unions.
The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody in September for allegedly wearing a head scarf improperly breathed new life into the protests, which officials across the country have tried to quell with harsh -- and sometimes deadly -- measures.
The activist HRANA news agency says that more than 500 people have been killed during the unrest, including 71 minors, as security forces try to stifle widespread dissent.
Thousands have been arrested in the clampdown, with the judiciary handing down harsh sentences -- including the death penalty -- to protesters.