Maryam Rajavi hails protesting Iranian teachers and urges expansion of support for them

NCRI - Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, hailed the teachers, workers and toilers who have risen in various parts of the country for their rights and to protest against discrimination, corruption and oppressive measures by the mullahs’ regime. She called on the people, especially the youth and students, to expand the protests and express solidarity with the teachers.

Teachers’ protest movement, ongoing since last year, swelled on Thursday, April 16, in Tehran and most provinces, including Fars, Mazandaran, Esfahan, Eastern and Western Azerbaijan, Ardebil, Central, Kurdistan, Zanjan, Yazd, Alborz, Khorasan Razavi, Southern Khorasan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Lorestan, Ilam, Kerman, Kermanshah, Qazvin, Khuzestan and Hamedan. Teachers demanded the annulment of judicial sentences and the release of the imprisoned teachers, increase in wages, ending discrimination, and improvement of the educational environment.

Protestors were carrying placards that some of them read: “Imprisoned teacher must be freed”, “improvement of livelihood is our absolute right”, “equality is our absolute right”, “our silence is louder than outcry”, and “criticizing forbidden – embezzlement permitted”.

In Kerman the protestors put on shrouds to portray the condition of teachers while in some cities the teachers chanted slogans against the Education Minister of Rouhani.
Mrs. Rajavi said: While teachers are struggling with severe poverty, the riches of the Iranian people is either spent on unpatriotic projects of export of fundamentalism and terrorism, production of the nuclear bomb, beefing up the suppression machine, the revolutionary guards, and the terrorist Qods Force, or is plundered by the leaders of this regime and their families.

The official budget of the military, suppressive and export-of-terrorism organs is three fold that of the education with around one million teachers and 13 million students. Beside the official budget, billions of dollars is placed at the disposal of the revolutionary guards and the mullahs’ intelligence by Khamenei or through the vast economic resources that these organs control with no supervision over them.

Mrs. Rajavi added: As long as the clerical regime is in power in Iran, poverty, unemployment, inflation and high prices that hurt the people in general and teachers and workers in particular, shall only get worse. Only the overthrow of this anti-human regime by the people and the Iranian Resistance and the establishment of democracy will bring this great catastrophe to an end.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
April 16, 2015

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UN Urges Sierra Leone to Let Pregnant Students Return to School

NAIROBI – The United Nations requested on Wednesday that Sierra Leone, the country most affected by the recent Ebola outbreak, allow pregnant women to resume their studies, as the schools closed due to the epidemic were recently reopened.

“The United Nations wants to remind the Sierra Leonean government that education is a fundamental human right, in which Sierra Leone is committed to respecting,” a UN statement declared.

Although the Education Act of the African country enshrines the principle of non-discrimination, the government issued an order preventing pregnant students from entering schools, which reopened their doors on Tuesday.

The UN implored authorities to put a stop to discrimination against pregnant adolescents, in accordance with international treaties, while also demanding that the country develop educational programs especially for pregnant students.

“Schools should be accessible without any discrimination and with affordable prices,” the statement issued from the UN headquarters in Sierra Leone added.

The UN also offered assistance to ensure the right to education for all Sierra Leonean youth, pregnant or not.

Around 1.8 million students in Sierra Leone returned to school after an eight-month delay.

Ebola has caused 10,600 deaths, 3,831 of which were in Sierra Leone, according to the latest report from the World Health Organization.

480 Rescued Migrants to Be Transferred to Sicily

ROME – Some 480 migrants rescued by the Italian coast guard will be transferred to the port of Palermo in Sicily, while another 400 people are still missing in the Mediterranean Sea.

Some groups have already landed in Palermo after being rescued by the King Jacob cargo ship, while two other ships are expected to arrive in Palermo later in the day, local authorities said.

Over the last four days, a total of 8,000 migrants trying to traverse the Channel of Sicily to reach the Italian coast were rescued, while 1,169 landed in Palermo on Tuesday.

The coast guards said Tuesday night that they had not yet located the bodies of about 400 migrant passengers, who have apparently drowned when their boat sank.

According to the latest figures provided by the Italian Interior Ministry, the number of migrants who successfully reached Italy by sea between January and April 7 is 12,616, in comparison with 11,695 during the same period last year.

U.S. Senate committee to vote on Iran bill

In a direct challenge to the White House, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is to vote on a bill that would give Congress a chance to weigh in on any final nuclear agreement that can be reached with Iran.

The bill put forward by Senator Bob Corker, the panel's chairman, would give Congress a vote on any final nuclear agreement with Iran.

Despite a veto threat from President Barack Obama, there is strong bipartisan support on Capitol Hill for Congress to have a say in any deal that the U.S. and five other nations are able to negotiate to keep Iran from being able to develop nuclear weapons in exchange for easing international sanctions.

Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said a vote is likely on Tuesday, possibly on a new version still being crafted Monday night. "There have been some tweaks," said Corker, R-Tenn. "I'm hopeful that we're going to be successful tomorrow."

A new version would be an attempt to make the bill more palatable to lawmakers who have sought changes, such as shortening from 60 days to 30 days the length of time that Congress would have to review any final deal that's reached.

If the panel of 10 Republicans and nine Democrats approves the legislation, it would be sent for a vote in the 100-member Senate.

Senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat in the committee, said he and Corker were trying to work out a compromise.

He told reporters: "I think we can get to a place where we can deal with most of the White House concerns and maintain the purpose of the bill, which is an early congressional review and timely notice if there is a material breach (by Iran of an agreement."

On the House side, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Monday he will bring the bill to the floor if the Senate acts on legislation giving Congress the power to review any deal.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry personally pleaded with House Republicans and Democrats on Monday to give the Obama administration more time and room to negotiate a final deal. Kerry met in a closed-door session with members of the House and was to meet with senators on Tuesday before the committee debates the bill.