Mohammad Habibi Released
On 10 November 2020, Mohammad Habibi, a teacher and member of the Teacher’s Trade Union of Tehran was released from the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary after serving 30 months of his sentence.
On 4 August 2018, Mohammad Habibi was sentenced to seven and a half years imprisonment for “collusion against national security”, 18 months imprisonment for “propaganda against the regime” and 18 months imprisonment for “disrupting public order”. He also received a two year travel ban, along with a ban from participating in any political or union activity for the same amount of time.
Mohammad Habibi is a human rights defender and an active member of the board of directors of the Teacher’s Trade Union of Tehran, through which he organizes regular assemblies. He has been a teacher for eighteen years, employed by the Iranian Ministry of Education. He also runs a Telegram channel, through which he broadcasts messages to a large audience, and updates people on news about the status of teachers’ demands.
On 10 November 2020, Mohammad Habibi, a teacher and member of the Teacher’s Trade Union of Tehran was released from the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary after serving 30 months of his sentence. On 4 August 2018, the human rights defender had been sentenced by Branch 26 of Tehran Revolutionary Court to an executable seven and a half years imprisonment on charges of “collusion against national security”, “propaganda against the regime” and “disrupting public order” for his peaceful involvement in trade union activities. The human rights defender had been incarcerated since 10 May 2018 when he was arrested by security forces along with seven other teacher’s rights defenders and participants during a peaceful teachers' protest.
His release occurred after his sentence was reduced based on a new directive issued by the head of the Iranian judiciary on 10 November 2020. According to this new directive, 157 prisoners with security related charges have been entitled to unconditional release from prison after the reduction of their sentences were reduced.
UPDATE: On 4 August 2018, Mohammad Habibi was sentenced to seven and a half years imprisonment for “collusion against national security”, 18 months imprisonment for “propaganda against the regime” and 18 months imprisonment for “disrupting public order”. He also received a two year travel ban, along with a ban from participating in any political or union activity for the same amount of time.
UPDATE: Mohammad Habibi has been denied access to medical treatment at the Great Tehran Penitentiary, where he is being illegally detained. His demand to prison authorities for transfer to Evin Prison, a prison for political prisoners, remains pending.
On 16 May 2018 human rights defender Mohammad Habibi was denied bail. He remains, to this day, detained in Great Tehran Prison with no access to his legal counsel. He sustained injuries during from his violent arrest outside the building of the State Budget and Planning Organization in Tehran on 10 May. He had been participating in a peaceful demonstration against the unjust economic situation of teachers and the ongoing privatisation of the educational system in Iran.
Mohammad Habibi is a human rights defender and an active member of the board of directors of the Teacher’s Trade Union of Tehran, through which he organizes regular assemblies. He has been a teacher for eighteen years, employed by the Iranian Ministry of Education. He also runs a Telegram channel, through which he broadcasts messages to a large audience, and updates people on news about the status of teachers’ demands.
Seven other human rights defenders were detained along with Mohammad Habibi on 10 May, but they were released on bail after three days. Mohammad Habibi was transferred from section one to section two of Great Tehran Prison on 21 May. He remains in urgent need of medical treatment for the injuries he sustained during his arrest.
On 15 May 2018, Mohammad Habibi called his family to inform them that he would be released on bail. But his application for bail was denied after his family came to the prison the following day. The human rights defender is being denied access to and communication with his legal counsel.
The human rights defender was also targeted on 3 March 2018, when he was arrested in front of the school where he teaches. He was taken to his home, where security agents ransacked his house. He spent the first two weeks of his detention in solitary confinement, before being transferred to a communal block of Evin prison. He was released on bail on 15 April 2018. Mohammad Habibi was charged with “collusion with the aim of disrupting national security” and “propaganda against the regime”.
Mohammad Habibi’s detention is part of the ongoing repression of labour rights defenders in Iran, which has intensified in recent months. The majority of the labour rights’ defenders have been protesting the poor working conditions contained in their contracts and extended periods of unpaid wages. Since the beginning of this year labour rights demonstrations have taken place in various Iranian cities, which have frequently been disbanded by state security.
Front Line Defenders believes that the detention of Mohammad Habibi is directly related to his work in defence of human rights.
