On 12 September 2017 Mahmoud Beheshti-Langroudi, the former spokesman for the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Association (ITTA), was taken to Evin Prison in Tehran to serve the sentences that were handed down against him for his peaceful defense of labour rights. The imprisoned teachers’ rights activist pledged to continue his hunger strike until his 14-year combined prison sentence is reviewed in a public trial.
The Revolutionary Court in Tehran has sentenced the 57-year-old to prison three separate times during the past ten years. Beheshti-Langroudi was first sentenced to four years in prison in 2007 for attending a demonstration alongside thousands of workers demanding better employment conditions; then, to five years in prison in 2010 for protesting the abuse of teachers’ rights in Iran; and, lastly, to another five years in prison in 2015 for participating in a peaceful teachers’ rights rally. He was previously arrested on 6 September 2015 to serve his sentences but was released in May 2016 after going on a 22-day hunger strike.
