******
According to PMOI/MEK Mojahedin of Iran, teachers in
dozens of cities across Iran have launched their 2 day nationwide strike on
Sunday, protesting poor living conditions, problems with their jobs and heavy
security measures imposed in their schools. They also are calling for their
jailed colleagues to be released. Teachers in the cities of Paveh, Islamabad-e
Gharb, Yazd, Kermanshah, Shiraz, Marivan, Mashhad, Ilam, Gonabad, Torbat-e
Heydariyeh, Tabriz, Amol, Garmeh, Lamerd, Sanandaj, Saqqez, Tehran, Sarvabad, Divandarreh,
Mahabad, Khorramabad, Firouzazbad, Zarrin Shahr, Bojnourd, Javanrud, Sari,
Karaj, Ivan-e Gharb, Isfahan, Rumeshkan and a number of other towns and cities
are seen to be on strike. Students in various cities have announced their
support for their teachers on this initiative. Since anti-government
demonstrations erupted throughout Iran in December, strikes have become a
popular way for citizens of different walks of life and social classes to
protest against the corruption and inefficiency of the Iranian regime. This is
the second time that the Iranian teachers are going on strike. Earlier this year,
teachers across the country took to the streets to protest against
discrimination, imprisonment of political activists and economic woes. This
round of strikes by teachers is happening in parallel to a widespread strike by
truck drivers across the country, which has lasted for more than three weeks
and has expanded to 320 cities across the country and in 31 provinces. Last
week, a separate strike by merchants and shop owners reached dozens of cities.
******
-On Wednesday, October 10, the families of students at
the Sama female School in Takestan held a sit-in against illegal and
substandard blood taken by a couple of syringes from 40 children by an
unidentified person posing as a Red Crescent (Hilal Ahmar) employee. The sit-in
protest was held in the prayer hall and a number of the families also gathered
in front of the Health and Medical Care Network in Takestan.
-On Tuesday and Wednesday, October 9 and 10, employees of
the Edalat Stocks Cooperative continued their protest gathering since Saturday,
October 6, against the cooperative’s failure to pay 43 months of their
salaries.
-On Tuesday, October 9, a group of defrauded investors of
the Caspian Credit Institute in Tehran held a protest gathering in front of the
Public Prosecutor's Office. Women stood alongside men in this protest,
demanding reimbursement of their plundered deposits.
-On Monday, October 8, a group of plundered clients of
the Caspian Credit Institute in Rasht, mainly women, staged a protest
gathering.
-Also on Monday, October 8, a group of students from
Tehran's Khajeh Nassir Toosi University of Technology staged a protest against
the new policy of obtaining fees from students for dormitory services.
According to women committee of the National Council of
Resistance of Iran, from March to September 2018, Iranian women have actively
taken part in over 430 protest gatherings in cities across Iran.
******
A female judo practitioner was banned from participating
in judo competitions at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Argentina, due
to the Iranian regime’s compulsory hijab rules. Maral Mardani, Iranian judo
practitioner of the 78 weight team, was eliminated from the main Olympic Games
in Argentina because she could not wear the original judo uniform and go
without covering her hair which is part of the compulsory hijab rule of the Iran’s
regime. Government officials did not allow the female judo practitioner to
attend tournament with the official Judo uniform, which all the athletes in the
world use, and the judo practitioner Maral Mardani was required to be present
with a full covering at the judo matches. (The state-run ILNA news agency -
October 9, 2018)
Earlier, rock climber Elnaz Rekabi, who won
the gold medal of women’s Asian Bold Ring Cup, said in a brief interview about
the restrictions imposed on her due to the compulsory hijab. "It is very
hard with the veil especially when the weather is hot. I tried to find some
proper outfit for this sport to observe the dress code, as well, but I had to
do it on my own.” (Interview with Euronews – Aparat.com– April 25, 2016)
In an insulting comment about Iranian women
athletes participating in national and international competitions, Alam Al-Hoda
said in 2015, "When a woman with an inappropriate appearance goes to the
platform to receive her medal, then an Indian referee will put the medal around
her neck and they will hold up the flag of Iran, it is a shame for the Islamic
world."
Female athletes have no government or private
support. Those women who wish to participate in international tournaments, have
to pay for their own travel, practice, equipment, etc. But Iranian women are so
motivated that they continue to be active in sports and win medals. They show
their talent and competence in various sport fields at every opportunity.
******
The bus carrying female students to a compulsory camp,
called Rahian-e Noor, crashed on the Tabriz road on October 10. Two students
died in this accident and more were injured. The bus carrying 40 secondary
school girls was heading to Tamarchin, in West Azerbaijan Province, when it
started to rain. Slippery road caused the crash at the entrance to the city of
Tabriz. (The state-run ISNA News Agency – October 10, 2018)
The Women committee of the National Council of
Resistance of Iran added that these compulsory camps, aimed at promoting
fundamentalist culture and brainwashing students, are held every year at high
expenses. While the government does not care for the lives of girl students,
they hold these mandatory camps on an annual basis, despite severe roads condition
in Iran where millions of people lose their lives every year.
Global organizations have described Iranian roads, as
roads of death.
Elite student Sara Ayineh was among the 27
victims of a horrendous bus crash in Sanandaj, capital of the Iranian Kurdistan
Province in western Iran on July 11, 2018, when an IRGC fuel tanker crashed
into the students’ bus. Sara Ayineh studied biology at a high school for
talented students and had passed the exam for the first stage of Science
Olympiad for the 2017-2018 academic year.
Last December, a bus carrying female students
from Susangerd traveled through war-torn areas under the pretext of a
scientific travel. The bus crashed and four girl students and a female teacher
were killed. According to government officials, six people died in the accident
and more than 11 people were reported as injured. (The state-run Tasnim news
agency – December 12, 2017)
This is not the first time that students die
in an accident involving buses carrying secondary and college students.
In another incident on March 17, 1998, a bus
carrying students from Sharif University of Technology fell into a steep valley
killing seven students and two faculty members of the university. Maryam
Mirzakhani, a mathematics genius, was one of the survivors of the incident.
******
Examinations by the Coroner’s Office revealed that a
seven-year-old girl, Donya Veisi, who had apparently died when the school wall
crumbled on her, had been actually raped and murdered, and the wall collapse
was a set up to cover up the heinous crime. This is according to a reporter who
has personally talked to a physician at the Coroner's Office.
Rashid Ghorbani, general director of the Department of
Education in Kurdistan Province, announced that Donya Veisi, a first grade
student of the elementary school of Garmash village, had been severely injured
on Monday, October 8, when an old wall in the school yard collapsed. Donya
Veisi was immediately taken to the Be’ssat Hospital of Sanandaj, by her father,
teacher and the school principal, but lost her life to serious injuries.
This is not the first time that such crimes
victimize innocent and defenseless children. Unfortunately, despite public
opinion pressure and repeated appeals by human rights and women’s rights
activists to pass a law on violence against women and criminalize its
perpetrators, no such bill has been adopted by the Iranian regime’s parliament.
The bill on elimination of violence against
women was first renamed as “Provision of Security for Women” bill, many of its articles
were subsequently deleted, and it remains stuck in the labyrinths of law and
decision making after some 10 years.