(AKI) - Alireza Hashemi, the founder and leader of the independent union of Iranian teachers, was suspended for three months from his job on Monday. Hashemi, who was jailed for three weeks in March, was barred from his classroom Monday morning, the teacher told Adnkronos International (AKI). "On the door of the classroom there was a letter signed by the deputy education minister saying I had been suspended for three months with a salary cut of 75 percent," he told AKI.
Hashemi has been a teacher for the past 25 years and is a key figure for independent trade unions. He is believed to have been suspended for talking to the press, notably to Farsi-language radio and television stations broadcasting outside Iran. Iranian teachers have been staging protests since February, demanding salary raises and that colleague fired or suspended for political reasons be given their jobs back. Teachers across the country have called for another day of protests on Wednesday and are expected to stage a rally in front of parliament in the capital Tehran. |