Letter to UNESCO Director-General in support of Kurdish teacher

Letter to UNESCO Director-General in support of Iranian Kurdish teacher Zara Mohammadi — Zara Mohammadi, a Kurdish teacher and co-founder of Nojin “New Life” Association, in Iran. She had been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in Iran, 2020. Photo: FB

Dr. Amir Sharifi | Kurdish Human Rights Advocacy Group | via iKurd.net

I write in support of Zara Mohammadi, a Kurdish teacher and co-founder of Nojin “New Life” Association, in Iran. She had been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in Iran, recently commuted to 5 years for teaching Kurdish .

On the eve of International Mother Language Day, Zara brought her case to the world as its jury with her two lawyers, Dr. Abdullahi and Mr. Ghorban whom she interviewed about her case and draconian criminal charges that the Islamic Republic of Iran has brought against her.

I express my profound concern about the plight in which she finds herself. Zara’s uncompromising stance has evoked widespread empathy ; she has particularly earned the respect and admiration of millions as the symbol of mother tongue education in the Kurdish main mainlands diaspora.

Ms. Azoulay, Zara has consistently defended human and language rights and categorically refuted unfounded political charges that have been brought against her for teaching, protecting, and promoting a language and culture to which she belongs.

As it can be seen in her case, the Islamic Republic of Iran cannot even tolerate the private teaching of Kurdish let alone endorsing or supporting it in public education . As you have aptly noted “… education must be our top priority, our pillar for recovery.

And yet only a miniscule share – on average less than 1% – has been set aside for education and training in national stimulus packages. Financing education is not a cost: it is our most crucial long-term investment. If we do not allocate this funding now, we will face a bleaker future,”

As a volunteer educator, Zara has always spoken her mind freely in the language of her choice to empower her students with the ability to read and write in their mother tongue . Therefore, she has been facing relentless discrimination and imprisonment for her courageous quest for linguistic equity and parity.

Yet the Islamic Republic of Iran practices a policy of surveillance ,exclusion, perpetual persecution and institutionalized discriminations against language right teachers and activists such as Zara who have actively participated in the promotion and protection of linguistic diversity in Iran.

Regardless of where we are and who we are, all of us should be shocked that an outspoken and dedicated teacher is to face frivolous claims of the courts for teaching her mother tongue to children.

Zara has made it her mission to socialize Kurdish children into literacy in their mother tongue, an important cultural heritage, and a democratic right for which no one should be persecuted. The long prison sentence is meant to have a chilling and intimidating effect on those who dare to stress the centrality of mother tongue in education in a multilingual country where monolingualism of the nation-state has been a state policy since 1920s. For this reason, language education is often conflated with political offense and educators such as Zara are imprisoned or worse as it was in the tragic case of Farzad Kamangar, executed. As Zara has said in her own self-defense

“ If teaching Kurdish, if helping victims of an earthquake and a flood is behind the verdict against me, I will embrace it with dignity and pride. …This is a verdict against all of our rights and us. Today it is me; tomorrow all those who live for and empathize with the community; they will find out that it is possible that folks can be sentenced and punished without any evidence…. let me repeat, history will have the final say about our work, our efforts, and integrity of [our]people. I have no doubt that we will be the ones who will stand high.”

Human rights activists and advocates such as Zara are the beacons of hope and inspiration for the oppressed and minoritized language speakers of Kurdish whom she has tried to protect. As you know the right to one’s language and education should be an internationally recognized human right not the prerogative of hegemonic states and their national standard language ideology.

Zara has repeatedly sent a clear and compelling message to all of us everywhere that language educators who find their languages minoritized are the bearers and holders of the responsibility for language maintenance through education; they should not be punished for serving the educational interests of their communities .

Education in the mother tongue plays an important part in the freedom of expression and flourishing of linguistic diversity in our world not to mention poor academic performance that t discriminatory educational practices impose on minoritized languages.

Zara Mohammadi should be free to resume her passionate commitment to empower and promote literacy and language choice in her speech community both individually and collectively. In a world that so many languages are at stake and disappearing, her inspiring role should be supported as an educator keen on the promotion of language maintenance through education.

Cordially

Dr. Amir Sharifi
Co-Director of the Kurdish Human Rights Advocacy Group.

Zara Mohammadi sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment

On the Eve of International Mother Language Day Support Zara Mohammadi, a teacher of Kurdish in Iran sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment (now commuted to 5 years) for teaching Kurdish.

She has become the symbol of language rights for Kurds in Iran and diaspora. She appeared in a live event with her lawyers: Dr. Jwamer Abdullahi and Mr. Ghoraban. The link appears at the end for those who do not understand Kurdish.

Read what she said and what her lawyers said about the charges against her. Stay alert for actions calling for her freedom.

Partial translation – Facebook video of Zara Mohammadi

Zara initially thanked all those who have supported her during her imprisonment and revealed how the court authorities had not been able to bring any credible evidence against her. Her first lawyer, Dr. Jwamer Abdullahi, a law professor during the interview with Zara clearly spelled out the facts of the case and contended that he “had found no evidence in Zara’s file to justify a 10-year imprisonment and that the verdict of “threat to national security and stability “ and affiliation with Kurdish political organizations” was baseless and with no legal merits.

He argued that Zara’s only “crime” was defending her identity and her language and that her activities in the Nojin Association “New Life” in Sanandaj were legal as the Association is a legal entity. Mr. Abdullahi in reflecting on why he took up the case, added that it was a blatant case of injustice and that Zara had been singled out because of her humanism in helping victims of Kermanshah earthquake and victims of the flood in Luristan.

He added, “As a teacher of Kurdish, she taught the language with awareness to the learners and that she is a bearer of a message, that language is identity and discourse; language separates yet it respects distinctions.”

The second lawyer, Mr.Ghorban agreed with the first lawyer’s scrutiny of the court files and stated that he would appeal to higher courts for Zara’s acquittal [Recently Zara’s sentence was commuted to five years because of lack of evidence]

Mr. Ghoran called upon all lawyers in the cities of Sanandaj, Kermanshah, and Ilam to rise up and protest the unjust verdict by issuing a statement in support of the young woman who has become a symbol for Kurds. He also reconfirmed that Zara’s insistence on her distinct identity was the main reason she had been subjected to such a harsh sentence.

In the end, Zara thanked everyone and said, “ If teaching Kurdish, if helping victims of an earthquake and a flood is behind the verdict against me, I will embrace it with dignity and pride. …This is a verdict against all of our rights and us.

Today it is me; tomorrow all those who live for and empathize with the community, will find out that it is possible that folks can be sentenced and punished without any evidence…. I thank all those who participated in this live event and listened to us and let me repeat, history will have the final say about our work, our efforts, and integrity of people. I have no doubt that we will be the ones who will stand high.”

Dr Amir Sharifi, Co-Director of the Kurdish Human Rights Advocacy Group ( KHRAG), Los Angeles.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.