Bahraini teachers’ leaders, Mahdi Abu Deeb and Jalila al-Salman will hear the final verdicts in their cases on 21 October. Abu Deeb, president of the Bahraini Teachers’ Association, and Al-Salman, the BTA vice-president, were tried before a military court after being arrested and charged with calling for a teachers’ strike in support of protests for reform in 2011. According to Amnesty International, they were tortured and forced to sign “confessions”.

If their sentences are upheld, Mahdi faces ten years in jail, while Jalila has been condemned to three.

Global teaching unions have led a campaign for their immediate release. In the UK, the NUT, NASUWT and UCU have protested to the Bahraini authorities, calling for Mahdi and Jalila’s immediate release.

What you can do:

• Sign Amnesty International’s online petition
• Pass a resolution in your union branch to send a letter of protest to the Bahraini authorities
• Print out this sign (Mahdi and Jalila freedom), take a photo and send it to us online and we will send it to Mahdi and Jalila’s supporters in Bahrain.

Nadine el-Enany (Defend the Right to Protest) Jeremie Bedard-Wien (from CLASSE student movement in Quebec) and Nina Power (Defend the Right to Protest) in solidarity with Mahdi Abu Deeb and Jalila al-Salman