Kurdistan/Iran; Judicial Fabrication and Summons of 15 Kurdish Teachers Union Activists to Branch 109 of the Criminal Court second chamber

As part of the ongoing pressure and repression targeting teachers union activists in Kurdistan, on Sunday, June 1, 2025, fifteen Kurdish teachers union activists were summoned via official notification to appear before Branch 109 of the Criminal Court second chamber in Sine(Sanandaj). They face charges of “disturbing public order.”

According to a source familiar with the situation, speaking to Kurdistan Human rights Association-Geneva, the individuals summoned include Mohammadreza Moradi, Salahaddin Hajimirzaei, Behzad Qawami, Seyyed Ghiath Neamati, Reza Tahmasebi, Shahriar Naderi, Aram Ebrahimi, Sadegh Kenani, Majid Karimi, Mokhtar Asadi, Fatemeh Zandkarimi, Nasrin Karimi, Faisal Nouri, Rezgar Heydari, and Kourosh Ezzati Amini. These teachers, all active members of the teachers union in Sanandaj, are accused of “disrupting public order.”

As stated in the summons dated June 1, 2025, they are required to appear on June 9, 2025, to present their final defense before the court.

Previously, on March 12, 2025, the Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in Sine (Sanandaj) issued indictments against these individuals. With full awareness of their participation in protest gatherings in June 2022, the Prosecutor’s Office formally requested punitive rulings against them.

In a related development, on February 3, 2025, Kurdistan Human Rights Association-Geneva published a report under“From Ranking Dismissals to Expulsions: 47 Cases Against Teachers in Kurdistan,” which documented the suppression of teachers in cities including Sine, Saqqez, Mariwan, Diwandareh, Ziwiyeh, and Dehgolan. The report detailed administrative orders ranging from the cancellation of rank-based benefits to suspensions and dismissals issued by the Department of Education. These measures followed the “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi” (Woman, Life, Freedom) movement and were closely tied to broader efforts to suppress Kurdish lecturers and schools.

On February 9, 2025, a group of human rights organizations issued a joint statement condemning the systematic repression of Kurdish teachers, particularly in the aftermath of the “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi” protests. They demanded an immediate end to unlawful crackdowns, international monitoring of the teachers’ situation, and increased pressure on the Iranian government to uphold human rights and ensure the civil liberties of educators.

Furthermore, on January 26, 2025, a collective of Kurdish teachers published an open statement addressed to officials and the general public. In it, they highlighted the dire state of educational justice, the deteriorating condition of schools, and the systemic suppression of teacher advocacy especially since the 2022 protests. The letter noted that since early 2022, teachers have been subject to widespread penalizing, arrests, physical violence, over 700 cases of salary deductions, 47 instances of revoked of ranking entitlements, and the official termination of the Kurdistan Teachers’ Union.

According to the letter, in 2023 and 2024, schools and educational offices have been increasingly militarized. Thousands of teachers have had disciplinary files opened against them, and dozens have been sentenced to dismissal, suspension, forced retirement, exile, and other punitive measures. The authors described these actions as part of a “dark record” of the Department of Education and high-ranking provincial and national officials, figures who remain in positions of power and continue to intensify their campaign of judicial fabrication and repression.