Eskandar Lotfi, a member of the Managing Board of the Marivan Teachers’ Association, detained by the Intelligence Agency in Sanandaj, western Iran, has been on a hunger strike since May 30. His hunger strike is in response to authorities renewing his detention order and being pressured to make false confessions.
Security forces detained Eskandar Lotfi and Massoud Nikkhah, the other teacher who is on hunger strike, on May 1.
Nikkhah was released on bail from Marivan Prison on May 11 and was detained again the next day.
Another member of the Managing Board of the Marivan Teachers’ Association identified as Shaban Mohammadi was also detained on May 11.
On June 4, Shaban Mohammadi told his family during a telephone call that he and Massoud Nikkhah had been transferred to Tehran’s Evin Prison.
Asghar Amirzadegan, another teacher activist detained in Shiraz’s Adel Abad Prison in southwestern Iran who is also on hunger strike suffers from gastrointestinal bleeding, yet prison authorities refrain from transferring him to a hospital outside of the prison.
In a June 2 letter, Education International urged Khamenei, the regime’s Supreme Leader, to release all detained teachers in Iran.
It is important to note that despite the health risks that hunger strikes pose, most prisoners have no other way of attaining their trampled rights.
Iranian authorities arrested dozens of teachers nationwide leading up to and since May 1 protests.
At least 17 of them are still detained, including Mohammad Habibi, the Iranian Teachers Trade Association’s (ITTA) spokesperson.
arrests came after the Coordinating Council of the Iranian Cultural Teachers Associations called for a nationwide protest on May 1, on the eve of National Teachers’ Day.
