Iran: Continued judicial harassment and dismissal of Kurdish teachers’ rights defenders
Front Line Defenders expresses deep concern over the continued judicial harassment, intimidation, and dismissal of teachers’ rights defenders, and trade union members in Iran, particularly those affiliated with the Kurdistan Teachers’ Trade Association. Between September and October 2025, Iranian authorities intensified their persecution of Kurdish educators, summoning several teachers’ rights defenders including Parviz Ahsani, Faysal Noori, Majid Karimi, and Hiva Ghoreishi to appear before the Administrative Violations Board of the Ministry of Education in Tehran.
Parviz Ahsani, Faysal Noori, Majid Karimi, and Hiva Ghoreishi are all members or affiliates of the Kurdistan Branch of the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Association which has been repeatedly targeted by the authorities for its peaceful organising and public advocacy. All four teachers’ rights defenders have previously faced harassment, disciplinary actions, and threats linked to their legitimate human rights activities promoting fair wages, safe working conditions, and access to education for all children.
An affiliate of Education International, the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Association (ITTA) is a trade union of educators which concentrates on the union rights of teachers and students since 1998. The board of directors and the members of ITTA have been prosecuted for their defence of the teachers’ rights to peaceful assembly and association.
O n 18 October 2025, the Ministry of Education summoned at least eight teachers, including Faysal Noori, Parviz Ahsani, and Hiva Ghoreishiand Majid Karimi, to appear before the Administrative Violations Board of the Ministry of Education despite their cases being under judicial review by the Administrative Justice Court. The authorities in Iran have provided no legal justification for reopening these cases, raising serious concerns of continued harassment and arbitrary proceedings.
In August 2025, the Ministry of Education issued unprecedented disciplinary rulings against fourteen Kurdish teachers for their peaceful union activities and advocacy for teachers’ rights. These rulings included permanent dismissals, forced retirements, suspensions, lowering professional ranking, and internal exile. Among those affected, Majid Karimi was permanently dismissed from all government service, Faysal Noori was sentenced to five years of internal exile in Kermanshah Province, and both Parviz Ahsani and Hiva Ghoreishi were dismissed from their positions. The rulings deprived several teachers of pension and social security rights.
On 29 August 2025, the Kurdish civil and union activists in Sanandaj organised a peaceful hike in solidarity with the dismissed teachers. Following the solidarity hike, four of the teachers - including Majid Karimi and Faysal Noori - were summoned by the national police intelligence office and subjected to hours of interrogation and threats.
The renewed summonses in October 2025 mark a further escalation in the State’s harassment of Kurdish educators and occur amid a nationwide crackdown on teachers and independent teacher unions across Iran. The repression has been particularly severe in Kurdistan Province, where independent teacher associations remain outspoken among active civil society organisations advocating for labour and educational rights.
On 1 October 2025, Front Line Defenders reported on the arbitrary arrest and detention of teachers’ rights defender, Masoud Farhikhteh, and seventeen other teachers’ rights defenders. On 16 September 2025, 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. The human rights defender was told his three year and six months arbitrary prison sentence issued by Branch 12 of Alborz Court of Appealson the charge of “gathering and collusion against the national security,” had come into effect.
Additionally, in December 2022, Branch I of Sanandaj Revolutionary Court sentenced Parviz Ahsani to five years in prison on the charge of “gathering and collusion against national security” in conjunction with his involvement with Jileh Mo. The Court suspended the five-year prison sentence for a period of four years, on the condition that the human rights defender complies with the following restrictions: he must notify authorities of any entry into or exit from the country; report to the Intelligence Office every two months; and refrain from attending gatherings of more than three people.
Front Line Defenders is gravely concerned about the ongoing judicial harassment and punitive actions against Kurdish human rights defenders, teachers, and trade union members in Iran. These measures are directly linked to their peaceful defence of labour rights and union activity, and constitute a serious violation of their rights to freedom of association, expression, and peaceful assembly. The ongoing reprisals are also in breach Iran’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Front Line Defenders calls on the authorities in Iran to immediately revoke all disciplinary rulings and summonses against the targeted teachers’ rights defenders and to cease all forms of harassment, intimidation, and reprisals against members of the Kurdistan Teachers’ Trade Association. The organisation further urges the authorities to guarantee due process and judicial independence in all ongoing cases, and to respect the rights of teachers and trade union members to freedom of assembly and association.
Front Line Defenders also calls on the international community and relevant UN mechanisms, including the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on Iran, to closely monitor the situation of labour rights defenders and human rights defenders from marginalised ethnic groups in Iran and to press for an end to the systematic repression of independent trade unions organising in the country.
