Worker activist Maziar Seidnezhad sentenced to 3 years in prison for professional protest

Maziar Seidnezhad, a labor activist, has been sentenced to 3 years in prison by the Islamic Republic solely for participating in professional protests and standing in solidarity with protesting workers at Haft Tappeh sugarcane factory.

According to sources close to Mr. Seidnezhad, in a ruling issued on Saturday, December 29, he was sentenced to 3 years in prison on charges of what was described as “membership in a group opposed to the system.” The ruling is subject to appeal.

In December 2018, several worker groups organized gatherings in solidarity with Haft Tappeh sugarcane factory workers to protest non-payment of wages and lack of adequate insurance coverage. Maziar Seidnezhad, an activist with the National Steel Group in Khuzestan, participated in these gatherings in solidarity with the workers. He was subsequently detained for 107 days and was temporarily released on bail of 500 million tomans in March of that year.

Acquaintances of Mr. Seidnezhad say he was coerced under pressure during detention into making forced confessions. In a film broadcast by Iran’s state radio and television as “Burnt Design,” he made confessions against himself.

The Islamic Republic frequently coerces critics and political opponents into making confessions against themselves and others through pressure. Political activists have repeatedly revealed upon release that they were subjected to torture and abuse during detention to extract forced confessions.

The U.S. State Department has repeatedly condemned violent confrontations and widespread suppression of protesters in various instances, as well as the repeated and ongoing violations of the rights of Iranian citizens by the ruling regime in that country.

Source: Voice of America