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<article>
  <category>press-releases</category>
  <content>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;img style="float: left;" title="BPP_LogoTra.gif" src="/images/69.gif" alt="BPP_LogoTra.gif" width="60" height="58" /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: FA; mso-no-proof: yes;" lang="EN-GB"&gt;Twenty two&lt;/span&gt; Baloch teachers have been arrested in the Balochistan cities Sarawan and Zahidan in &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;"&gt;Iran&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;"&gt;. After their arrest on 11&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; and &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;"&gt;12&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; August 2009&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;"&gt;, the teachers were transferred to unknown locations. Since then their families have been denied any information about the detainees. Furthermore, the families have been harrassed, threatened to be detained and asked to keep silent about the arrest of their loved ones.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;"&gt;The &amp;ldquo;Organization of Human Rights Activists of Iran&amp;rdquo; &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;has indintified some of the arrested teachres from Sarawan as Mr Behrooz Bahorzahi son of Pir Bakhsh, teacher of the &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;ldquo;12 Urdibahesht School&amp;rdquo; , Mr Ali Reza Chakari son of Shahdad,&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;deputy-principal at the Bagher Khan School, Mr Hamid Reza Chakari Son of Shahdad, Mr Abdul Rahman Rawanbakhsh, an IT engineer. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;,&amp;quot;serif&amp;quot;; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"&gt;On the 13 the regimes security forcess attacked home of 7 more teachers in the city of Zahidan and arrested them some have been identified by, &amp;ldquo;Organization of Human Rights Activists of Iran&amp;rdquo;, &lt;span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;as Mohmmad Saleh Eslamzahi son of Atah Mohammad and his 17 years old son Mehdi Islamzahi, and Alim Jangizahi Teacher in the Bagher Khan School &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;"&gt;Denying access to information and prohibiting the families to visit them and also threatning them to keep silent indicate that they are under psychological pressure and being tortured physically. Judging from the recent arrests and executions by the Iranian regime in Balochistan it is certain that these teachesr will also be forced to confess and then will be convicted without having access to lawyers and behind closed court rooms. In the past, the regime has arrested and convicted political opponents under the false charges of drug trafficking or rebellion against the state. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;"&gt;Balochistan Peoples Party (BPP) is seriously concerned about the life and health of these teachers. &lt;strong&gt;We therefore&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;strong&gt;urge the international community, the human rights organizations and democratic governments to put pressure on Iranian authorities to release the arrested&amp;nbsp;teachers. &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;"&gt;Nasser Boladai&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;;"&gt;Spokes person for Balochistan Peoples Party&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</content>
  <created-at type="datetime">2009-08-15T03:22:44-06:00</created-at>
  <description>Fifteen Baloch teachers have been arrested in the Balochistan cities Sarawan and Zahidan in Iran</description>
  <id type="integer">272</id>
  <published type="boolean">true</published>
  <published-at type="datetime">2009-08-15T03:22:44-06:00</published-at>
  <publisher></publisher>
  <source>Balochistan</source>
  <title>Appeal: Urge the Iranian government to release Baloch Teachers</title>
  <updated-at type="datetime">2010-03-11T00:51:43-07:00</updated-at>
  <viewcount type="integer">547</viewcount>
  <writer>Balochistan Peoples Party</writer>
</article>
