Iran: teacher union activist sentenced to death

Education International, supported by international trade union organizations andlabourstart, is campaigning to stay the execution of  Abdolreza Ghanbari, a 44-year-old lecturer of Payam e Nour University. If the sentence is carried out, it would mark the second execution of a teacher union activist following the May 2010 execution of Farzad Kamanger.

Ghanbari was arrested at his home in Pakdasht on January 4, 2010. He was charged with Moharebeh (enmity towards God) for receiving unsolicited emails from an armed opposition group to which he does not belong. While in detention at the notorious Evin Prison, Prof. Ghanbari was interrogated for 25 days in a row and forced to confess under duress to unproven charges. His lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh, was herself condemned to a six-year sentence in Evin prison for "propaganda against the regime" and "acting against national security".

In 2007, Prof. Ghanbari had already been detained for 120 days and sentenced to a six-month suspension from teaching and exiled from Sari to Pakdasht.  He was previously involved in teacher union activities until his union was dissolved in 2007. Prof. Ghanbari's death sentence has been confirmed by Tehran's Appeal Court, Branch 36 in April 2010. He has since been waiting on death row. A request for pardon was rejected on February 28 by the Commission of Justice in Tehran. the authorities are allowed to proceed with the execution.

The Education International and the international labour movement call on the Iranian authorities to stay the execution of Prof. Abdolreza Ghanbari and revoke the death sentence; to drop all charges against all detained trade unionists and release them immediately; to comply with the international labour standards and respect the rights of Iranian workers to freedom of association, assembly and expression.

You can send a message to the Iranian authorities here theough the labourstart online campaign.