Teacher Mohammad Habibi Held in Solitary Confinement for 50 Days on Bogus Charges

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, Mohammad Habibi, a teacher and member of the Iranian Teachers’ Union has been held in solitary confinement for more than 50 days. He was arrested by Ministry of Intelligence agents on charges of “assembly and collusion against national security” and “propaganda against the system” on April 30 and taken to their cells in Ward 209 of Evin Prison. Mohammad had telephone access once a week and visitations once a fortnight while at the ward.

An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “Mohammad Habibi was transferred to Ward 240 more than 50 days ago, he’s only been able to call briefly call his wife once. He has also been deprived of access to his lawyer since arrest.”

His lawyers, Amir Raeisian and Hossein Taj have requested access to Mohammad’s case twice at Evin Court which has been denied both times by the investigator in his case, Haj Moradi. The Evin Court official also told his family that the “investigative experts” (interrogators) had banned him from telephone and visitation rights.

While Haj Moradi consistently promised to release  him on bail “in a week,” his detention order has been renewed for the third month.

In the run up to Teachers Week, a number of teachers and workers rights activists were arrested around Iran for their “friendly meeting with two French unionists.” Days later, prior to trial, IRIB news agency aired a film claiming the activists had been in contact with “foreign espionage services.”  However, teachers Mohammad Habibi and Jafar Ebrahimi had never met with the French unionists.

The two French citizens are Cecil Koehler, a member and international representative of the French National Federation of Education and Culture of the Work Force (FNEC FP-FO) and her husband, Jacques Paris, the former secretary general of the same union in the education sector (SNFOLC), who had travelled to Iran as tourists. They were arrested by security forces in May.

On July 6, Masoud Satayshi, the spokeperson for the Judiciary stated the two French citizens had been arrested on charges of “assembly and collusion against national security.”