Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 404, October 2023

Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body

1. 49. The Committee last examined this case, which was lodged in May 2007 and concerns allegations of continued repression of teacher unionists, at its October 2020 meeting [see 392nd Report, paras 64–75]. On that occasion, the Committee had urged the Government to bring its conclusions to the attention of the judicial authorities with a view to ensuring that in the future trade unionists are not arbitrarily condemned under vague charges for the peaceful exercise of trade union activities, to take all the measures in its power for the immediate release of those so detained, and to keep it informed of the developments in this regard. It further requested the Government to ensure that in the future all allegations of violations of detained unionists’ rights will be promptly and efficiently investigated.
2. 50. In a communication dated 23 December 2022, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and Education International (EI) submitted supplementary information in relation to this case. They state that the Government has continued arresting trade unionists and workers and that since 16 September 2022, the mass peaceful protests following the killing of Jina Mahsa Amini in “Morality Police” custody, gave rise to severe repression and arrests where trade unionists and worker activists were also targeted. Two young workers, Mohsen Shekari and Majid Reza Rahnavardi, both 23, were executed in December 2022.
3. 51. The ITUC and EI further indicate that earlier in 2022, over 230 teachers were detained for their participation in the May Day celebrations. They were later released on bail. Furthermore, prior to 1 May, the authorities raided the homes of several prominent trade unionists in the education sector, detained them and sentenced them to several years in prison. Several members of the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations (ITTAs) also reported having received phone calls and summonses to intelligence service offices, or to revolutionary courts in relation to dormant cases based on security charges and having been threatened and warned not to participate in the teachers’ gatherings on May Day. According to the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations (CCITTA), at least 12 trade unionists remained in arbitrary detention, for the sole reason of having peacefully exercised their right to freedom of expression and demonstration to demand better teaching and learning conditions in the education sector. The ITUC and EI provide further details concerning 14 Iranian leaders and affiliates of provincial sections of the CCITTA who were targeted by the authorities for participation in peaceful protests or other forms of engagement in peaceful trade union activities:
   • Mr Esmaeil Abdi, the former General Secretary of Tehran Teachers’ Trade Association, has been detained in Evin, Karaj Central Penitentiary and Kechui prisons since 2015. He was first arrested in July 2015 to prevent his participation in the EI congress in Canada. Cumulation of several successive sentences against him means that his release is not due before 2031. His requests for retrial were rejected four times; when finally in December 2022 a court accepted his request, the intelligence forces still refused to release him, even on medical grounds. His health has deteriorated because of lack of access to medical care. His family has also suffered harassment as the authorities have cut off their social insurance and benefits since 2014. Mr Abdi’s wife, Ms Monireh Abdi, has lost her employment as an architect and has been unable to find a job because of effective blacklisting. The authorities have warned her not to give further interviews or participate in rallies, otherwise a case will be opened against her, and she will be sentenced to prison.
   • Mr Rasoul Bodaghi, a member of the board of directors of Eslamshahr TTA and the General Secretary of the CCITTA, was sentenced to four years in prison on 12 April 2022 on charges of “assembly and collusion with the intent to commit crime against national security” and to one year on the charge of “propaganda against the State” for his peaceful engagement with the CCITTA. His house was raided, and he was violently arrested on 30 April 2022 and since then he has been detained in Evin prison. The Court of Appeal confirmed his sentence on 1 June 2022. The sentence also bans him from travelling for one year and from residing in Tehran and its neighbouring provinces, and from membership in political parties and social groups for two years. Mr Bodaghi had several times been condemned to imprisonment and spent more than six years in prison after being sentenced for identical charges in 2010 and 2015.
   • Mr Jafar Ebrahimi, a member of the board of directors of Tehran TTA and an inspector at the CCITTA, was last arrested without a warrant, after his house was raided on 30 April 2022. On 27 November 2022, the Tehran Court of Appeal upheld a five-year sentence against Mr Ebrahimi on charges of “propaganda against the State” and “assembly and collusion with the intent to commit crime against the security of the State”. In December 2022 he was transferred to hospital for a health emergency. He was chained to his hospital bed and was guarded by security officers. Mr Ebrahimi was once more sentenced to four years and six months’ imprisonment in February 2020 in relation to another case.
   • Mr Masoud Farhikhteh, a member of the board of Eslamshahr TTA and co-chair of the CCITTA was arrested on 13 May 2022, during the teachers’ protests organized countrywide. He was released on bail on 8 June 2022 and sentenced to one year of imprisonment and 74 lashes on the charge of disturbance of public order. This ruling was later suspended for two years. However, Mr Farhikhteh was rearrested on 3 December 2022 by security forces in Karaj and was in solitary confinement in Evin prison at the time of the communication.
   • Mr Mehdi Fathi, a member of Fars province TTA was again arrested and detained on 7 June 2022 for having participated in a teachers’ protest in Shiraz. The provincial appeal court upheld an eight-year sentence against him. Furthermore, the court withdrew his passport and banned him from leaving the country. Mr Fathi is currently detained in Adel Abad prison in Shiraz. Previously, in 2021 he was prosecuted for his union activities and participation in peaceful protests. He spent 113 days in solitary confinement in Adel Abad prison before being released on bail on 4 January 2022.
   • Mr Mohammad Habibi, a member of the board of directors of Tehran TTA, had been subject to judicial harassment for years because of his union engagement. In October 2022, he was sentenced to three years and seven months’ imprisonment. His house was raided on 30 April 2022, his and his wife’s electronic devices were confiscated, and Mr Habibi was violently arrested and was held in prison at the time of the communication. Previously, in August 2018, Tehran Revolutionary Court had sentenced Mr Habibi to seven years and six months’ imprisonment on charges of “collusion against national security”, “propaganda against the State” and “disruption of public order” for his peaceful involvement in trade union activities. After serving 30 months, his sentence was reduced based on a new directive issued by the head of the judiciary, and he was released in November 2020. Furthermore, Mr Habibi’s teaching position was twice terminated during his time in detention under the pretext of “unjustified absence”.
   • Mr Hashem Khastar, a member of the board of Mashhad TTA and a civil rights activist was informed while serving a prison sentence in Vakil Abad prison (Mashhad) that he should appear in court for a hearing on 1 August 2022 with only one day’s notice. Mr Khastar has been jailed many times for his trade union activities.
   • Ms Zhila Khayer, a member of the Kazoroon (Fars province) TTA, was arrested in her hometown of Kazoroon in December 2022 and was held in Adel Abad prison in Shiraz. She was transferred to Soroush Detention Centre for interrogation and subsequently sent back to Vakil Abad. At the time of the communication, she expected to be released on bail.
   • Mr Eskander (Soran) Lotfi, a member of the board of directors of Mariwan (Kurdistan province) TTA and the spokesperson of the CCITTA was most recently arrested on 8 October 2022. On 3 December 2022 he was severely beaten in the Greater Prison of Tehran by an interrogator because he was providing humanitarian support to the young people who had been arrested during the uprising. He was released on 5 December 2022 but awaits a new trial and possible conviction. Mr Lotfi had previously been detained in connection with May Day events. On 8 February 2020, Sanandaj criminal court had sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment on charges of “propaganda against the State” and “spreading misinformation” based on his trade union activities. However, in July 2020 the Court of Appeal acquitted him of those charges.
   • Ms Shiva Mafakheri, a mathematics teacher and activist affiliated with Sanandaj (Kurdistan province) TTA, was arrested in mid-November 2022 and her whereabouts remained unknown at the time of the communication. She is reported to have been arrested because she did not allow the authorities to intervene in her class to punish her students for having participated in protests.
   • Mr Shaban Mohammadi, a board member of Marivan TTA, had his house raided and searched in the early hours of 30 April 2022, all his electronic devices were confiscated, and he was arrested for the third time since the beginning of 2022. This arrest was related to the preparation of the teachers’ gathering on May Day in Tehran and other cities. Mr Mohammadi was arrested for the fourth time on 11 May 2022, while he was visiting his fellow union leader Mr Massoud Nikkhah. He was transferred to Evin prison in Tehran on 5 June and released on bail on 20 August 2022. On 8 October 2022, security forces broke into Mr Mohammadi’s house at 7 a.m. to arrest him, but he was absent and as no legal document from the judiciary was produced to justify his arrest, he did not present himself to the authorities subsequently. Since October 2022 he has been hiding in fear of rearrest and at the time of the communication his whereabouts remained unknown.
   • Mr Pirouz Naami, the General Secretary of the Khuzestan TTA was arrested during the 2022 popular uprising and was released on bail after one month, but subsequently the regional office of the Ministry of Education informed him that the security forces had cancelled his latest permanent contract with the Ministry and his payment was reduced to what was provided in an earlier contract. The resulting financial pressure on Mr Naami and his family is used as a punitive tool to silence teacher activists.
   • Mr Masoud Nikkhah, a board member of the Marivan TTA (Kurdistan province) was arrested on 30 April 2022 prior to the May Day celebrations, then released and subsequently rearrested on 11 May. He was transferred to Evin prison in Tehran along with his fellow teacher activists. Security forces raided his home and confiscated all electronic devices on 12 May 2022. During his detention, Mr Nikkhah was tortured by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He was released on a heavy bail on 20 August 2022 but was again arrested and detained in October 2022. On 5 December 2022 he was released on a new bail.
   • Mr Hamid Rahmati, a member of the Shahreza TTA (Isfahan province) was last arrested on 2 October 2022 and started a hunger strike in detention on 9 December 2022. He has been arrested many times since 2008.
4. 52. The ITUC and EI conclude that the raids, arrests, detention and heavy sentencing of both rank-and-file and prominent trade unionists form part of a pattern of systematic repression by the Iranian authorities to instil a climate of fear and violence and to suppress the legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of association and request the Committee to call on the Government to immediately drop all charges against trade unionists referred to above and release those still in detention; to refrain from raiding trade unionists’ homes and from confiscating their and their families’ property and travel documents; and to stop the police and judicial harassment of CCITTA members.
5. 53. The Committee notes the Government’s reply dated 1 May 2023. The Government indicates that Ms Cécile Kohler and Mr Jacques Paris, two French teachers and trade unionists arrested in Iran on 8 May 2022 and still in provisional detention in Evin prison under the charge of “assembly and collusion with the intention to commit crime against the security of the State” have had meetings with the TTA and CCITTA members, focusing on how to transform the teachers’ and SVATH claims into street protest actions against the State. The Government reiterates its reply in Case No. 2508 that, prior to their arrival while they were still in France, they had organized online meetings and training webinars with the participation of the CCITTA. During those virtual meetings, methods of organizing, safe contacts and fighting with the State were presented and training pamphlets were provided. The Government adds that Ms Kohler and Mr Paris had also held several webinars and face-to-face training courses in a safe home located in a Tehran neighbourhood, aiming at holding teachers’ union strikes and protests. They had injected significant amounts of money for financial support and support of the key elements; they had provided technical support and sent technical items in order to covertly communicate and not be discovered by intelligence services in their effort to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran.
6. 54. The Government provides the following indications concerning the status of some of the trade unionists referred to in the EI and ITUC communication:
   • Mr Esmaeil Abdi was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment for charges of assembly and collusion with the intention of committing a crime against national security and propaganda against the State. This ten-year term started on 11 January 2021.
   • Mr Rasoul Bodaghi was arrested once on charges of propaganda against the State, assembly and collusion against the national security and disruption of public order by participating in illegal gatherings on 11 December 2021 and released on bail on 21 December 2021. During his prison time, he met his first-degree relatives six times. During his imprisonment he was not eligible to use leave and had no recourse to the prison clinic. According to the latest information, he was sentenced to four years in prison. The start of his sentence is 7 May 2022, and it ends on 6 August 2026.
   • Mr Jafar Ebrahimi has been in custody since 30 April 2022 under charges of assembly and collusion with the intention to commit crimes against national security and propaganda against the State. All judicial proceedings have yet to be completed in his case.
   • Mr Massoud Farhikhteh is charged with assembly and collusion with the intention to commit crimes against national security and propaganda against the State. He was arrested on 3 December 2022 and released on bail on 1 February 2023.
   • Mr Mehdi Fathi was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment under charges of assembly and collusion with the intention to commit crimes against national security. He was arrested on 8 June 2022 and is currently serving his sentence in the security ward of Shiraz Central Prison.
   • Mr Hashem Khastar was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment on charges of membership in State opponent groups and organization of gatherings and groups with the aim of disturbing national security. He is currently held in Mashhad Prison and will be released at the end of his term on 18 June 2029.
   • Ms Zhila Khayyer was arrested and placed in provisional detention on 22 November 2022 on charges of assembly and collusion with the intention to commit crimes against the security of the State. She was indicted on 9 January 2023 and was referred to the revolutionary court of Shiraz. No verdict was issued in her case at the time of the communication.
   • Messrs Eskandar Lotfi, Shaban Mohammadi and Massoud Nikkhah are charged with assembly and collusion with the intention to commit crimes against national security and propaganda against the State. They were arrested on 1 May 2022, and released on bail on 17 August 2022, then arrested once again on 8 October 2022 and released on bail on 5 December 2022.
   • Ms Shiva Mafakheri was arrested on 22 November 2022 on charges of assembly and collusion with the intention to commit crimes against the security of the State. Her case was referred to Sanandaj prosecutor’s office. She was released on bail on 26 January 2022. Subsequently an order of termination of proceedings was issued and the case was closed.
   • Mr Pirouz Naami was sentenced in absentia on the charge of assembly and collusion with the intention to commit crimes against national security. His attorney has applied for the mitigation of his punishment.
   • Mr Hamid Rahmati was arrested on 3 October 2022 on charges of assembly and collusion with the intention to commit crimes against the security of the State and was released on bail on 15 December 2022.
7. 55. The Committee notes the updated information submitted by the ITUC and EI and the Government reply. The Committee notes with deep concern that since its previous examination of this case, measures against members and leaders of CCITTA and local Teachers’ Trade Associations (TTAs) seem to have significantly intensified, as allegedly a great number of them have been subject to arrest, detention and judicial prosecution and conviction, as well as administrative sanctions in relation to legitimate trade union activities. The Committee notes that with the exception of one case, the cases of all the union members and leaders referred to in the complainant’s communication of December 2022 remain open at the time of the examination.
8. 56. The Committee notes that the following trade unionists are in prison, serving final sentences issued against them in revolutionary or criminal courts, mainly under sections 500 and 610 of the Islamic Penal Code (IPC), which respectively concern “propaganda against the State” and “assembly and collusion to commit crime against the security of the State”: Mr Esmaeil Abdi (15 years), Mr Rasoul Bodaghi (4 years), Mr Jafar Ebrahimi (5 years), Mr Mehdi Fathi (8 years), and Mr Hashem Khastar (10 years). The Committee notes that Mr Jafar Ebrahimi, was sentenced to 5 years’ imprisonment – four years of which are enforceable – based on sections 500 and 610 of the IPC and has been detained since 30 April 2022. Nevertheless, the Government indicates that the judicial proceedings concerning him are yet to be completed, without providing further detail.
9. 57. The Committee notes that according to the information submitted by the complainant and information published by the CCITTA, the following trade unionists have been released on bail, and are awaiting trial and possible conviction:
10. 58. The Committee notes with deep concern the numerous arrests, prolonged preventive detention, prosecution, and heavy imprisonment sentences against CCITTA and local TTAs leaders and members since April 2022. The Committee notes that the Government indicates the charges brought against the arrested and sentenced teacher trade unionists, without indicating the concrete acts attributed to those charged and sentenced. It further notes that the complainants’ allegations and publicly available sources suggest that the arrests and judicial measures against trade unionists are related to their trade union activities, in particular participation in demonstrations and public expression of opinions concerning questions of interest to teachers and government policies on educational, social, and economic issues. The Committee notes in particular the simultaneous raids targeting the homes of Messrs Bodaghi, Ebrahimi, Habibi, Lotfi, Mohammadi and Nikkhah in the early hours of 30 April, one day before the demonstrations of May Day 2022, followed by the arrest, long preventive detention, and prosecution of these CCITTA officials as well as the rearrest of Mr Farhikhteh on 1 May 2023. The Committee notes the reproduction of the long-standing, familiar pattern of criminal qualification of legitimate trade union activities under IPC national security and public order related provisions, in particular sections 500 and 610 of the IPC.
11. 59. Concerning Mr Esmaeil Abdi, the General Secretary of Tehran TTA, the Committee recalls that he was first arrested in 2015 and started serving a prison sentence in 2016 based on sections 500 and 610 of the IPC. The Committee further recalls that in 2020, the Government indicated that Mr Abdi’s sentence would terminate, and he would be released on 22 December 2020 [392nd Report, para. 67]. Nevertheless, the Committee notes with deep concern that in its latest communication, the Government indicates that Mr Abdi has started serving a ten-year sentence on charges of assembly and collusion with the intention to commit crimes against national security and propaganda against the State as of 11 January 2021. The Committee notes that according to publicly available information, by the end of 2020 when Mr Abdi should have been released, the judiciary started executing an earlier suspended condemnation of ten years’ imprisonment on charges of espionage. The Committee further notes that on 16 November 2022 the Iranian Supreme Court finally quashed the ten-year sentence and admitted Mr Abdi’s retrial application concerning the espionage case, referring it for retrial to another branch of the Tehran Revolutionary Court. Nevertheless, the Committee notes with deep concern that months after the judgment sentencing him to imprisonment had been quashed, Mr Abdi has been neither released nor retried, and the Government indicates in its communication that he is serving a ten-year sentence. The Committee notes that the manifest arbitrariness of Mr Abdi’s detention after an old sentence purportedly justifying his continued imprisonment was quashed constitutes an extremely alarming development. The Committee recalls in this regard that the detention of trade unionists for reasons connected with their activities in defence of the interests of workers constitutes a serious interference with civil liberties in general and with trade union rights in particular [see Compilation of Decisions of the Committee on Freedom of Association, sixth edition, 2018, para. 123]. Furthermore, no one should be deprived of their freedom or be subject to penal sanctions for the mere fact of organizing or participating in a peaceful strike, public meetings or processions, particularly on the occasion of May Day [see Compilation, para. 156]. Therefore, the Committee urges the Government to immediately drop the charges and release the teachers referred to in this case whose detention or charges are due to their trade union activities. It further requests the Government to keep it informed of the measures taken in this regard and the status of all the persons concerned.
12. 60. The Committee notes with deep concern the allegations of torture and ill-treatment of Messrs Lotfi and Nikkhah while in detention, as well as allegations of recourse to prolonged solitary confinement concerning Messrs Farhikhteh, Fathi and Habibi. The Committee recalls in this regard that in cases of alleged torture or ill-treatment while in detention, governments should carry out independent inquiries into complaints of this kind so that appropriate measures, including compensation for damages suffered and the sanctioning of those responsible are taken to ensure that no detainee is subjected to such treatment [see Compilation, para. 112]. It further recalls that regardless of the grounds for the arrests, according to the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, solitary confinement shall be used only in exceptional cases as a last resort for as short a time as possible and subject to independent review, and only pursuant to the authorization by a competent authority. Prolonged solitary confinement – solitary confinement for more than 15 consecutive days – amounts to torture and shall be prohibited (see the resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on 17 December 2015 (the Nelson Mandela Rules), A/RES/70/175, Rules 43–45) [see 400th Report, para. 511]. The Committee therefore urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that an independent inquiry into the allegations of torture and ill-treatment of Messrs Lotfi and Nikkhah while in detention is conducted and to refrain from having recourse to solitary confinement of detained trade unionists in the future. It further requests the Government to keep it informed of the steps taken in this regard.