Four Kurdish teachers from Divandarreh sentenced to dismissal and exile
Hengaw: Monday, December 9, 2024
Four Kurdish teachers from Divandarreh—Omid Shah-Mohammadi, Kaveh Mohammadzadeh, Parviz Ehsani, and Hiwa Qureyshi—members of the Divandarreh branch of the Kurdistan Teachers’ Union, have been sentenced to dismissal and exile by the Education and Training Employees Disciplinary Board.
According to a report received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, on Saturday, December 7, 2024, the disciplinary board ordered the dismissal of Omid Shah-Mohammadi, Kaveh Mohammadzadeh, and Hiwa Qureyshi from their teaching positions. In addition, Parviz Ehsani was sentenced to five years of exile in the city of Qorveh.
Previously, Parviz Ehsani, Kaveh Mohammadzadeh, and Hiwa Qureyshi had been sentenced to five years of suspended imprisonment by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Court in Sanandaj, presided over by Judge Hossein Saeedi, on charges of “acting against national security” through membership in the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK). Omid Shah-Mohammadi was sentenced to five years of actual imprisonment.
The arrests of these teachers occurred on Wednesday, May 26, 2022, when intelligence forces conducted raids involving physical violence, home searches, and assaults on the wives of two detainees. Alongside the four teachers, another educator, Osman Rezaei, was also arrested during the crackdown.
Osman Rezaei was released on Saturday, June 18, 2022, after posting bail of 250 million tomans. The other four teachers were conditionally released on August 30, 2022, following 76 days in detention, each posting bail of 1.5 billion tomans.
It is noteworthy that during their detention, these teachers were denied access to legal counsel and visitation rights with their families, raising serious concerns about due process and human rights violations.
