Irán, República Islámica del - Teachers’ leader Alireza Hashemi arrested

Alireza Hashemi, head of the Iran Teachers Organization, was arrested on 19 April 2015 at his home and transferred to Evin Prison to serve a five-year sentence, originally handed to him in 2013, on charges of “assembly and collusion against national security” and “propaganda against the regime”. Earlier in April thousands of teachers took part in protests in 37 cities in Iran, against poverty wages and discrimination. Ahead of the protests the clerical regime had summoned a number of teachers and threatened them not to hold public protests in current situation in Iran which the authorities described as ‘critical’.