Human rights group condemns Iran for crackdown on activists

The rights group of Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi has reported a noticeable increase in pressure from the Iranian government on student activists, unionists and teachers in the past few months, Agence France-Presse reported Monday.

“We are pained to say that the ninth government has further tightened the space for political, unionist, press and student activists despite its populist slogans,” The Centre for Defenders of Human Rights, a small group of rights lawyers led by Ebadi, stated in its latest report.

Protests have been held by students at universities in Tehran regarding the detention of three of their peers for the publication of images deemed offensive to Islam in student publications.

Teachers also staged protests earlier this year over their working conditions, under which they receive a basic wage of between 200 and 300 dollars a month.

Along with arrests, many professors have been fired for “alternative thinking” and hundreds of students have been banned from studying for “political or ideological reasons.”

The Centre also expressed concern over the treatment of the Baha’i minority, who are considered to be apostates by the government and do not receive any of the rights awarded to minority Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians.

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