She Came to Appeal to Parliament — and was Killed by ISIS

One of the victims of the June 7 terrorist attacks on Tehran has been named as Hanieh Akbarian, a teacher from Lorestan province in western Iran. 

Akbarian and her colleagues had traveled to Tehran to call on the government to honor its commitments to teachers and recognize their rights as state employees. She had been on the road to Tehran many times, traveling by bus from her distant town to voice her and her fellow teachers’ demands. On Tuesday, June 6, Hanieh Akbarian and her colleagues gathered outside the parliament building, holding signs to persuade Iran’s legislative branch to meet their demands. And on Wednesday, her colleagues chose her to go to parliament as their representative. Nobody imagined she would never return. No one imagined she would fall victim to the terrorists’ bullets.

Hanieh Akbarian was a teacher with the Literacy Campaign in the scenic mountainous city of Noorabad, the capital city of Delfan County in Lorestan Province, nearly 500 kilometers away from the Iranian capital of Tehran.

“We had rallied several times to demand our professional rights,” a colleague of hers who had participated in Tuesday’s gathering told IranWire. The group was calling for the government to implement a law that would ensure the Literacy Campaign was incorporated into the Ministry of Education. The law was passed last year, but, said Akbarian’s colleague, “it has not been implemented, and it does not appear that it is going to be.”

The teacher I spoke to — who did not want to be named — was shocked to learn that her fellow teacher had been killed. She did not know Akbarian closely; they mainly knew each other because they subscribed to the same Telegram channel.  “She was always active in our Telegram group,” the teacher said. “She participated in rallies to demand our rights. She represented teachers in her town, pursuing their demands. Yesterday there was no rally. She had gone to parliament to follow up and write letters.”

“I remember one message from her,” she said. “She had written that village farmer and herder women have so many problems that they cannot put in any effort to succeed in their education.” Lorestan province is home to a number of tribes, and, historically, many of them were nomadic herders. 

Teachers who work for the Literacy Campaign are paid according to the number of students that successfully pass exams at the end of the school year. So many teachers working for the program have called for a reform of this policy, and have appealed to parliament to enact the change. Parliamentarians approved, and passed a law that would incorporate the Literacy Campaign into the Ministry of Education. However, the ministry has refused to shoulder the responsibility. “It is so difficult to believe,” said Hanieh Akbarian’s colleague. “You go somewhere to demand your rights, you don’t get them and instead you are killed. May God grant peace to her family.”

“Teacher to our Mothers”

I spoke with Zahra, a friend of Hanieh, in Lorestan. She spoke with a strong regional accent, and with great difficulty, obviously feeling extremely emotional and upset over what had happened. “Hanieh was 37, the daughter of Ali Abdal from the clan Northern Ativand from the village of Gajan. She was married to Morteza Shah Moradi from the clan Zangivand Noor Ali. Hanieh loved her job. She was the teacher to our mothers and worked hard for them. But she was not appreciated. She had to travel to Tehran repeatedly to demand what was due her.”

According to Zahra, the details of how Hanieh Akbarian was killed are still unknown. “They only know that she was killed by Daesh [ISIS] bullets,” she said. “First they took her to Mo’ayeri Hospital but now they have told her family to pick up her body at Baqiyatallah Hospital. But they have not given them any details.”

On Wednesday, the people of Noorabad gathered in front of the local police station to mourn her. “Everyone was crying,” Zahra said. “Young and old were cursing ISIS. At night people went to their rooftops and shouted ‘God is Great!’ All of Noorabad is in mourning.”

Zahra believes that the people of Noorabad owe Hanieh Akbarian a lot. Because of her, she said, many people in the city can now read. “But she was not appreciated,” says Zahra. She paused for a few seconds and then continued. “Sometimes they would not pay their salaries for months. Just a few years ago the campaign’s teachers gathered outside the governor’s office. The gathering was organized by Hanieh. Mr. Hojjat Suri, representative for Delfan, came and Hanieh talked to him and explained the problem. Mr. Suri pursued it with the Education Ministry and the problem with salaries was solved.”

Zahra swallowed hard before continuing. “Since they said that Hanieh has been martyred I have been thinking: Hanieh would have been a martyr even if she had been killed some other way and not by the godless ISIS. Islam says that whoever dies in the line of duty is a martyr. Hanieh died in the line of her duty to demand what was due to her and her colleagues.”

Then Zahra burst into tears. “May God grant peace to her family. I am worried about her son.” She says Hanieh had one child, a boy of eight. “I am sure that he misses his mother so much. God damn ISIS!”