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Iran: Women activists freed as teachers'
protests intensify
8.3.2007 |
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March 8, 2007
Tehran, March 8, -- All but three of the 33
Iranian women's rights activists jailed on Sunday
were freed Wednesday night, on the eve of
International Women's Day, in exchange for a pledge
not to demonstrate on 8 March. Nevertheless, many of
them and other women's rights activists protested in
front of parliament in Tehran on Thursday. Meanwhile
also on Thursday, teachers staged their thid strike
in a week in front of parliament, demanding salary
raises and that thousands of colleagues they say
were fired for political reasons be reinstated to
their jobs.
The women were arrested on Sunday for staging a
demonstration in front of a courthouse in Tehran
where five fellow women's rights activists were on
trial for staging a peaceful rally against sexual
discrimination in Iranian legislation last 12 June.
Three of the activists are still in Tehran's Evin
prison: they are Shadi Sadr, Mahboubeh
Abbasgholizadeh and Gila Baniyaghoub, three
journalists who had denounced violence suffered
during police questioning after their arrest.
The others arrested Sunday were reportedly freed in
the middle of the night after their families were
obliged to sign a document in which they promised
the women would not stage rallies on International
Women's Day Thursday.
Nevertheless just a few hours after their release
some of those arrested staged a rally with some 200
women in front of parliament, to demand that the
three still detained in Evin be freed and to
celebrate International Women's Day.
Witnesses in parliament's Baharestan square reached
on the phone by Adnkronos International (AKI) said
police tried to remove the women by force, in vain.
Fatemeh Govarai and Marzieh Mortazi Langharoudi, two
of the 31 released from jail, were violently hit
with batons by plainclothes officials.
Meanwhile on Thursday morning teachers also gathered
in front of parliament in their third protest in a
week demanding raises and asking that colleagues
fired for political reasons, as many as 1,500 only
in Kurdistan, be given their jobs back. Thousands of
teachers had already gathered in front of parliament
last Saturday and then on Tuesday threatening to
block mid-term exams and not to resume work in
rallies called by 30 teachers' unions.
Ali Akbar Baghani, coordinator of the Association of
teachers' unions, told Adnkronos International (AKI)
on Wednesday that "100,000 teachers, 30,000 of whom
took part in the protest in front of parliament,
abtsianed from work on Tuesday" and that "teachers
across the country took part in assemblies despite
the threats of school authorities."
Just a few hours after his phone interview with AKI,
Baghani was arrested Wednesday at 10 pm local time
with another 19 members of the teachers' union.
Protests by teachers on Thursday were staged
nationwide in cities including Zanjan, Kermanshah,
Rasht, Isfahan, Ardebil, Marivan, Mianeh, Shiraz and
Sabzevar.
According to data provided by the teachers' unions,
98 percent of retired teachers live below the
poverty line and the salaries of elementary and high
school teachers have not been raised for the past
ten years despite rising inflation today estimated
at around 12 percent, according to official data.
Many teachers are reportedly forced to get a second
menial job to make a living.
adnki com
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Iranian Kurdistan (Kurdish: Kurdistana Îranę or
Kurdistana Rojhilat (Eastern Kurdistan) or Rojhilatę
Kurdistan (East of Kurdistan) is an unofficial name
for the parts of Iran inhabited by Kurds and has
borders with Iraq and Turkey. It includes the
greater parts of West Azerbaijan province, Kurdistan
Province, Kermanshah Province, and Ilam Province.
Kurds form the majority of the population of this
region with an estimated population of 4 million.
The region is the eastern part of the greater
cultural-geographical area called Kurdistan.
More about Iranian Kurdistan
The present leader of the organisation is Haji
Ahmadi. According to the Washington Times, half the
members of PEJAK are women, many of them still in
their teens, and one of the female members of the
leadership council is Gulistan Dugan, a psychology
graduate from the University of Tehran. This is due
primarily to the fact that PJAK is strongly
supportive of women's rights. PJAK believes that
women must have a strong role in government and must
be on an equal level with men in leadership
positions.
More about PEJAK- Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan
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