YOUR UNION
Recent human rights actions by NTEU N
TEU National Office regularly sends letters to foreign governments and companies in support of imprisoned or victimised educators and workers, upon the request of education and human rights organisations. For more information, please visit the organisations’ websites: Amnesty International www.amnesty.org Scholars at Risk scholarsatrisk.nyu.edu Education International www.ei-ie.org
Bahrain IRAN
Action request: Education International and Amnesty International To:
King, Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs
Action: Further letter re concerns for health of Mahdi ‘Issa Mahdi Abu Dheeb, President of the Bahraini Teachers Association. He commenced a hunger strike on 12 February in protest at the refusal of authorities to release him on bail and the deplorable conditions in jail.
Also expressed concerns re arrest of Jalila al-Salman, Vice-President of the Bahraini Teachers Association and other teacher unionists and teachers following pro-democracy movement protests. UPDATE 3 April: EI has learned from blogs that Mahdi’s appeal hearing scheduled on 2 April 2012 as been postponed to 2 May, in order to include medical reports. EI has asked the International Committee of the Red Cross to liaise with the Red Crescent to visit him in detention.
SUDAN
BAHRAIN
TOGO
China Action request: Scholars at Risk To:
Togo Action request: Amnesty International To:
Minister for Justice
Action: Letter re Agnite Massama, Bitsioudi Birenam and Didiba Mohamed (members of National Union of Pupils and Students of Togo) – fear of torture/ill treatment. Prisoners of conscience – detained following organisation of a general assembly to discuss the Government’s failure to honour its promises regarding student support grants and scholarships.
Sudan
Action: Senator The Hon. Bob Carr, Minister for Foreign Affairs
Action request: Amnesty International
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President Hu Jintao
Action: Letter re Gu Chuan scholar/blogger who was denied permission to leave China to take up a position as a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University (USA).
Action request: Education International
Action: Letter re Mahdi ‘Issa Mahdi Abu Dheeb, President, Bahraini Teachers Association and Jalila al Salman, Vice-President, Bahraini Teachers Association. Concerns re health of Mahdi ‘Issa Mahdi Abu Dheeb and need for international pressure on Bahraini authorities (in view of scheduled court hearing 2 May) to drop all charges against them.
CHINA
To:
Ibrahim Mohamed Hamed, Minister of the Interior
Action: Letter re unconfirmed reports that detained student activist, Taj Alsir Jaafar who commenced a hunger strike on 11 February has died. Prison authorities have refused to confirm or deny the reports, have refused his family access and have made threats against his mother.
Iran Action request: Scholars at Risk To:
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Action: Further letter re case of Abdolreza Ghanbari and other detained scholars and intellectuals. Action request: Education International To:
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Action: Letter re pending execution of Professor Abdolreza Ghanbari, lecturer of Payam e Nour University. He was arrested on 4 January 2010 and charged with enmity towards God after receiving unsolicited emails from an armed opposition group. While in detention at Evin Prison, Abdolreza Ghanbari was interrogated for 25 consecutive days and forced to confess under duress to the charges.
NTEU ADVOCATE vol. 19, no. 2