Bahraini teacher union leaders languish in jail

On Sunday, the appeal hearings for Jalila al-Salman and Mahdi 'Issa Mahdi Abu Dheeb, the President and Vice President of the Bahraini Teachers Association (BTA) were postponed until 19 February next year, until when they will languish in jail. Education International, the global teachers movement, has launched an e-action so that you can add your protest and your demand that, as the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) urged, their sentences be commuted.

The sentences – three to ten years' imprisonment - were originally handed down in September by the military National Safety Court of First Instance, for their involvement in peaceful protests last March. Seven other BTA board members are also on trial and 76 teachers have been sacked for similar baseless reasons. A larger number of teachers are still suspended.

Ben Moxham