Iranian Court Upholds Teachers' Prison Sentence

An Iranian court has upheld the six-month prison sentence of a teachers' union activist, while another faced his third court appearance in two months amid an relentless clampdown on organized labor.

The Appeals Court of Khorasan Razavi Province confirmed Atekeh Rajabi's sentence, with two months of prison time and four months suspended for five years, the Coordinating Council of Teachers Syndicates reported.

Rajabi was arrested in May while on her way to participate in a teachers' rally in the northeastern city of Mashhad protesting the deteriorating state of the educational system and the suppression of students .

She was fired from her job last year after appearing in a video without a headscarf in which she criticized the government's "unjust treatment" of students and teachers who are simply demanding their rights be respected. 

Condemning what it called "the systematic case fabrications" against union activists, the Coordinating Council of Teachers Syndicates also reported that Mohsen Omrani had made his third court appearance on October 31 in a trial revolving around charges of "propaganda against the system."

Omrani had previously been sentenced in two separate cases to a total of two years and three months in prison, asset confiscation and 35 lashes.

He was also arrested in May.

Unrest has rattled Iran since last summer in response to declining living standards, wage arrears and a lack of welfare support. 

The September 2022 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody breathed new life into the protests, which the authorities have tried to quell with brutal force.

More than 500 people were killed by security forces during demonstrations sparked by Amini's death and over 20,000 people were unlawfully detained, activists say. Following biased trials, the judiciary has handed down stiff sentences, including the death penalty, to protesters. Seven of them have been executed so far.