Iran summons UAE diplomat over teachers' arrest

Iran's education ministry says arrest of Iranian teachers in Emirates and their release is being followed up

TEHRAN: Iran's foreign ministry has summoned the United Arab Emirates charge d'affaires in Tehran after nine Iranian teachers were detained over work permit problems in the Gulf state, state media reported.

A UAE official has reportedly said work permits for the teachers were valid only for use in Dubai and were invalid in Abu Dhabi.

But Iran said the teachers in Iranian schools had been regularly working in Abu Dhabi in recent years using their Dubai credentials. The teachers, all male, were arrested on Wednesday in the city of Al Ain, Iran's Fars news agency said.

Fars also quoted an informed source as saying Monday that 13 female Iranian teachers had been summoned to a UAE court, without giving details.

The Emirati charge was summoned on Sunday evening in the absence of the ambassador. The foreign ministry protested the arrest of the nine male teachers and demanded their immediate release, state media said.

"The arrest of Iranian teachers in the Emirates and their release is being followed up and consultations are under way," said Khalilollah Babalou, head of the international department of Iran's education ministry.

He said he hoped the teachers would be released on Monday. Iran has sent a total of 450 teachers to teach in Iranian schools abroad this year.

There are 10 such schools in the UAE, which has a large Iranian population, estimated in the hundreds of thousands and concentrated in Dubai, a regional trading hub.