Hiva Ghoreishi
Hiva Ghoreishi is a Kurdish human rights defender, teacher and labor rights activist from Divandarreh, Kurdistan Province, Iran, and a member of the Kurdistan Teachers’ Trade Association. He has been actively involved in advocating for teachers’ rights and better educational conditions in the region. In 2022, he was arrested by Iranian security forces and detained at the Ministry of Intelligence’s facility in Sanandaj. In December 2024, he was permanently dismissed from his teaching position by the Ministry of Education’s Administrative Violations Board as part of a wider crackdown on educators and labor activists in Kurdistan province.
Hope for political reform in Iran surfaced when President Hassan Rouhani assumed office in 2013 and dozens of opposition political figures and human rights defenders were released. However, violations of the rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly and movement of HRDs continue to be prevalent.
Human rights defenders and journalists are arrested, detained and prosecuted in unfair trials. HRDs continue to receive death threats and are subjected to harassment, arbitrary arrest and detention. They are refused bail or receive extreme bail conditions. HRDs are additionally subjected to systematic surveillance and their family members are targeted. Journalists have been subjected to flogging for criticising the government.
