On Tuesday, April 4th 2018, Esmail Abdi, a detained teacher and board member of Teachers’ Union who is serving his imprisonment time in Evin Prison unit 4, started a hunger strike in protest to massive violations of Iranian citizens, teachers, and workers’ rights.
According to the Campaign for the Defense of Political and Civil Prisoners, Esmail Abdi has started his hunger strike to call for a public trial and the improvement of prisoner ‘s legal rights. He had planned to start his hunger strike on April 17th, 2018, but with a promise made by the prosecutor’s office to respond to his demands he delayed his planned hunger strike. Today, he began the hunger strike after Tehran’s prosecutor broke his promise.
Esmail Abdi recently won the 2018 The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) Award.
The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), in explaining the award to Abdi wrote: “This award was given to Mr. Abdi for his commitment for the struggle for teachers’ rights and quality education for all in Iran.“
Esmail Abdi was arrested on Thursday June 25th, 2015, after the Iranian education advocacy group protested education system disarray. Abdi was illegally arrested when he intended to go to Canada to attend the World Teachers Summit as a representative of the Iran Council for the Coordination of Teachers’ Trade Unions throughout the country. In January of the same year (2015) in a primitive court under the chairmanship of Judge Salavati he was sentenced to six years in prison and the verdict was confirmed by Branch 36 of the Tehran Court of Appeals.