July 6, 2015
His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei”
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: [email protected]
To His Excellency Hassan Rouhani
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: [email protected]
Sirs,
I am writing on behalf of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation, the voice of nearly 200,000 teachers in Canada and an Affiliate Member of the 30-million member Education International (EI).
As one of the host organizations of EI’s 7th World Congress, the CTF echoes EI’s call to release immediately our colleague Mr. Esmail Abdi, the General Secretary of the Iranian Teachers’ Trade Association (ITTA) and to secure his right to travel to Canada to attend the Congress in Ottawa, Canada, July 21-26, 2015.
Iran must live up to its responsibility as a signatory to the universal Declaration of Human Rights and related conventions. Confiscating Mr. Abdi’s passport, taking him into custody and preventing him from travelling to Canada for the EI Congress is an infringement of numerous human rights conventions including the right to freedom of association and the right to travel. The detention of Mr. Abdi obstructs the democratic functioning of Education International and silences the voices of Iranian teachers.
We urge you to release him immediately and to secure his right to travel to Canada. Time is of the essence.
Sincerely,
Dianne Woloschuk
President
President/Présidente Dianne Woloschuk • Secretary General/Secrétaire générale Cassandra Hallett DaSilva