Esmail Abdi, teacher and leader of the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Association (ITTA) , was arrested in June 2015 while trying to attend the Education International (EI) 8th World Congress in Ottawa, Canada.

His trail was grossly unfair: he was denied access to a lawyer of his choice during the entire investigation, his lawyer was not allowed to review his court file before the trial, and he was sentenced to six years in the notorious Evin prison where he was kept in solitary confinement simply for exercising his human and trade union right to free speech.

His real crime is that he is a determined advocate of human rights, equality and justice and fights for the right of children and young people to have access to free, quality public education and for teachers to organise independently into unions of their choosing in a democratic Iran.

In April 2018, Esmail went on hunger strike to protest his arrest and that of other teachers and human rights defenders and supporters. His health continues to deteriorate. He needs our solidarity.

What you can do

• Email Iranian President Dr Hassan Rouhani and Iranian Head of the Judiciary Sadegh Larijani to call for Esmail’s immediate release using the template we’ve set up on the right/below.
• Share the petition by emailing it to your family, friends and colleagues.
• Share your concerns on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #freeEsmail using the social media buttons at the top of the page.

Source: https://www.nasuwt.org.uk – NASUWT, the Teachers’ Union