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Iran Reports Freeing Teacher Activist After Global Criticism of Arrest

by Michael Lipin

   WASHINGTON --

   An Iranian state-run news agency says a teachers' rights advocate whose
   arrest last month on unspecified charges drew criticism from global and
   Iranian rights activists has been freed from prison.

   The Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) reported Mohammad Habibi was
   released from Tehran's Evin prison on Sunday on a bail of $60,000. It
   said the family of the 29-year-old teacher and trade unionist
   "expressed joy at his freedom."

   Habibi is a board member of the Tehran branch of the Iranian Teachers'
   Trade Association (ITTA).

   Days after Habibi's arrest on March 3, his wife, Khadijeh Pakzamir,
   [1]told RFE/RL's Radio Farda, a sister network of VOA, that
   plainclothes security agents had detained and pepper-sprayed her
   husband outside his school in the town of Shahriar in the western part
   of Tehran province.

   She said the agents also brought him to their home and searched it
   before sending him to prison without specifying any charges.

   In her interview with Radio Farda, Pakzamir accused the security agents
   of unjustified violent behavior and said her husband's activities
   always have been peaceful and legal.

   Brussels-based group Education International, a global federation of
   education-sector trade unions, [2]said Iranian authorities had
   threatened Habibi in the past for his role as a trade union leader. In
   a statement last month, EI condemned Habibi's jailing and Iran's
   continued detention of other education unionists.

   ILNA, a moderate conservative news agency, previously reported that
   Iranian activists had signed an online petition calling for Habibi to
   be freed and teachers' associations had issued statements supporting
   him.

   There was no immediate reaction from Iranian rights groups to his
   reported release.

   This report was produced in collaboration with [3]VOA's Persian
   Service.

   Michael covers international news for VOA on the web, radio and TV,
   specializing in the Middle East and East Asia Pacific. Follow him on
   Twitter [4]@Michael_Lipin

References

   1. https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iran-teacher-detained-habibi/29089406.html
   2. https://www.ei-ie.org/en/detail/15742/iranian-teacher-unionist-arrested
   3. https://ir.voanews.com/
   4. https://twitter.com/Michael_Lipin