The U.N. human rights office calls the decision to close Jordan’s Teachers Syndicate another blow to the union’s freedom of association and to its ability to operate without governmental interference.

U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville says his agency has serious concerns about a growing clampdown on press freedoms. He says a recent order by the attorney general to ban all news stories about the syndicate’s closure and the arrest of its board members tramples on peoples’ civic rights.

“The actions against the Teachers Syndicate, which has over 100,000 members, and its supporters, are emblematic of a growing pattern of suppression of public freedoms and the restriction of civic and democratic space by the Jordanian government, including against labor rights activists, human rights defenders, journalists and those who have peacefully criticized the government,” said Colville.