Iran: Mass Arrest of Iranian Teachers

The sign reads,"Silence !Silence !The National Media has gone to pick flowers."



Follwoing the breakdown of negotiation of Teachers Union with the government, there are reports of extensive arrests of the several leaders of Teachers Association as they were about to gather and start their protest. Some one thousand riot police have broken up and dispersed a protest rally of around 2,000 teachers who assembled Wednesday for the sixth time in two weeks outside the Iranian parliament.

During the clashes 50 teachers were reportedly arrested, among them five leaders of the independent teaching union. Three other union officials were arrested during a rally at Kermanshah in Iranian Kurdistan. The teachers are demanding pay rises and a halt to the sacking of teachers considered 'ideologically unsound'. In Iran's Kurdistan area at least 1,500 teachers have received a letter of dismissal on the accusation of fomenting ethnic hate.

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Free Women's Right Defenders in Iran

Subject:Petition Demanding Immediate and Unconditional Release of Women’s Rights Defenders Arrested in Tehran on March 4, 2007

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Update: Amnesty International reports:

Iran: Arrests of women may be an attempt to prevent International Women's Day calls for equality

In related news: You cannot make us wear black!

The officials of Alamiyeh Tabatabaie University in Tehran have issued strict guidelines for women entering the university. They have banned colourful veils, make up and jewelry, and have placed guards at the front gate to report anyone transgressing the new regulations to the Islamic regime's authorities.In protest, 8-900 women held a sit in outside the university. Plackards at the sit-in said: 'No to dress controls', 'no to reaction', and 'you cannot make us wear black'.

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