Iranian teachers have launched a campaign to collect 100,000 signatures calling for the release of detained educators and end to their harassment.

Esmail Abdi, a teachers’ union leader who has been in prison since 2015 backed the initiative by sending a message from jail. He said that the extent of repression against teachers has expanded in recent years.

Abdi who was the leader of Tehran Teachers’ Association was sentenced to a six-year term in 2016 but is still in prison.

A current campaign has already collected 10,000 signatures, but teachers’ union members, some in exile, have called for collecting one hundred thousand.

Last week, 1,200 teachers sent a letter to the heads of the three branches of government asking them to release detained union activists and end harassment by security forces and the Judiciary that continues to fabricate legal cases against union members. However, the president and the head of the judiciary refused to accept the letter.

Teachers say that in most likelihood, top state officials think 10,000 signatures represents just one percent of the one million teachers in the country. This is the reason the activists have embarked on collecting 100,000 signatures.

Teachers maintain that they have pursued their demands through peaceful and legal means for two decades, but the Islamic Republic has always dealt with them through force and intimidation.

Teachers have been demanding higher wages and pensions for years, as one of the lowest paid class of government employees. In 2010s, government appointed officials embezzled hundreds of millions of dollars from their pension fund, without any serious consequences.