Over 13,000 working and retired Iranian teachers have signed a petition to put pressure on the regime to release imprisoned colleagues.

The group of teachers launched a campaign on Friday to collect 100,000 signatures calling for the release of detained educators and an 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.

Teachers' Unions of Tehran, Markazi, North Khorasan, Kordestan, and Eslamshahr have also supported the campaign.

In a statement they said the Islamic Republic's security and judicial institutions have issued long-term prison sentences for protesting teachers in various provinces, while hundreds of others have been dismissed or forced into early retirement.

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, claiming the Judiciary continues to fabricate legal cases against union members. However, the president and the head of the judiciary refused to accept the letter.

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, one of the lowest paid government employees. In the 2010s, government appointed officials embezzled hundreds of millions of dollars from their pension fund, without any serious consequences.