Irán, República Islámica del - Teachers’ associations banned (2010)

In 2007, teachers’ protests led to harassment, detention and incarceration of labour activists: many suffered pay cuts, were dismissed and forced to retire. The Interior Ministry has since issued a ban on all teachers’ associations. Even though the associations were never formally dissolved by court, intelligence officers insist that the associations were liquidated by the government and that the teachers should resign from them. Several teacher associations have been crushed by the intelligence service, but some, such as the associations in Tehran, Esfahan and Kermanshah, remain active. Union meetings are either dispersed or supervised by officers from the intelligence service.