Health concerns for teachers’ rights defender Masoud Farhikhteh held in solitary confinement

On 30 September 2025, the teachers’ rights defender and trade unionist, Masoud Farhikhteh informed his family via a telephone call that he has been transferred to solitary confinement after he made a statement from prison a week ago. The human rights defender, who is currently detained in Karaj Central prison, suffers from a thyroid condition and requires specific medication and access to medical care which cannot be verified due to limited contact with the defender.

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Masoud Farhikhteh is a teachers’ rights defender and a board member of the "Islamshahr Teachers Trade Association." He has been prosecuted for his union activities and peaceful work in defence of teachers' rights including with the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Association. He has been subjected to arbitrary detention, including in May 2023, and was fined and given a prison sentence in June 2025 due to his active participation in teachers assemblies, forming and directing trade union branches, and publishing statements.

On 30 September 2025, Masoud Farhikhteh informed his family via a telephone call that he had been transferred to solitary confinement after he made a statement from prison the week before. In his statement, the human rights defender criticised the Iranian government’s environmental and economic policies. He condemned the government’s targeting of workers, pensioners, and teachers, among other rights groups, in response to the economic and political crises rooted in the “corruption” of the authorities, according to the defender.

On 16 September 2025, the human rights defender was arrested, together with seventeen other teachers’ rights defenders when security forces raided the general assembly of the Coordinating Council of the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations (CCITTA) in Shahreza, Isfahan Province. While the other detainees were released consecutively, Masoud Farhikhteh remained detained. On 18 September 2025, after three days in detention in Shahreza, Masoud Farhikhteh was transferred to Police Station No. 11 in Karaj, Alborz Province, and subsequently to Karaj Central Prison on 19 September 2025. During this transfer, he was shackled and handcuffed.

On 23 June 2025, Branch II of Karaj Revolutionary Court sentenced the human rights defender to five years in prison on the charge of “gathering and collusion against the national security,” one year in prison on the charge of “propaganda activities against state,” a two year travel ban, and a two year ban from commuting in Tehran, Alborz, Qazvin, Lorestan and Kurdistan provinces. These sentences were reduced to three and a half years for the charge of “gathering and collusion against the national security,” and seven months and sixteen days in prison for the charge of “propaganda activities against state” by Branch 12 of Alborz Court of Appeals in August 2025. Under Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, the enforceable portion of his sentence is set at three years and six months in prison for the most severe charge.

The Coordinating Council of the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations has declared that the arrest and imprisonment of the union and teachers rights defenders is illegal and a blatant violation of the fundamental rights of teachers and citizens in Iran.

Front Line Defenders condemns the arbitrary detention, judicial harassment, the use of excessive restraint, and the current detention of Masoud Farhikhteh. As the defender suffers from a thyroid condition and requires specific medication, we express grave concern for the lack of clarity on his access to medical care as well as his health and safety whilst in detention. The organisation believes that he is being targeted solely for his legitimate and peaceful human rights work in defence of teachers' rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association in Iran.

Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in Iran to:

1. Immediately and unconditionally release Masoud Farhikhteh and all other teachers detained for their peaceful union activities;
2. Guarantee the physical integrity and well-being of Masoud Farhikhteh while he remains in detention, ensuring his treatment adheres to the conditions set out in the ‘Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment’;
3. Ensure Masoud Farhikhteh has immediate and regular access to his family, his lawyer, and all necessary medical care for his thyroid condition without delay;
4. Cease the targeting of teachers, union activists, and all human rights defenders in Iran and guarantee in all circumstances that they can carry out their legitimate activities without fear of reprisals, arbitrary detention, and judicial harassment.