Three Student and Labor Activists Arrested at Margins of First Court Hearing for Haft Tappeh Detainees
The court hearing for Haft Tappeh detainees was held on Saturday, August 3, while reports indicate that three labor and student activists have been arrested in front of the Revolutionary Court.
The first session of the court hearing for Ismail Bakhshi, Sepideh Gholian, Ali Nejati, Amir Amirgholi, Asal Mohammadi, Sanaz Elahyari, and Amirhossein Mohammadi Fard as defendants in the Haft Tappeh case was held on Saturday, August 3 in Branch 28 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, and reports indicate that security forces prevented families and friends of the detained individuals from being present in the courthouse grounds.
The Telegram channel of Haft Tappeh Independent Workers also reported that simultaneously with the holding of this court hearing, a number of “plainclothes forces” while checking the documents of “Raham Yeganeh” and “Hirad Pirbadaq,” student and labor activists, arrested these two individuals “without presenting a warrant” and transferred them to the Police Security Department.
Reports indicate that “Farid Lotf Abadi,” a student activist, was also arrested by security forces in front of the Revolutionary Court.
The first court session for the defendants in the Haft Tappeh case was held while Ismail Bakhshi, a labor activist, and Sepideh Gholian, a civil activist, were first arrested in November of last year during protests by workers of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company. After their release, the two announced that they were tortured during detention and forced into “coerced confessions.”
Currently, Sepideh Gholian, in protest of insults by Qarchak prison officials to her family and in expressing support for Amirhossein Mohammadi Fard and Sanaz Elahyari, has gone on a hunger strike.
Ali Nejati, a member of the board of directors of the Haft Tappeh Workers’ Syndicate, was arrested at his home on October 30 of last year on the charge of involvement in strikes by workers of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company, and after some time, on February 27 of the same year, due to having heart and respiratory diseases, he was released from prison on medical leave.
Amirhossein Mohammadi Fard, editor-in-chief, and Sanaz Elahyari, a member of the editorial board of the student publication Gaam, are two detained defendants who in the case of protests by workers of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company have been in detention since January 10 of last year. They recently announced in an open letter from Evin Prison that they would begin a hunger strike.
Sanaz Elahyari, ten days after beginning her hunger strike on July 15, ended her hunger strike due to deterioration of her physical condition and family insistence, but her husband Amirhossein Mohammadi Fard continues his hunger strike.
Recently, the Iranian Writers’ Association issued a statement calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Haft Tappeh detainees.
Previously, Amnesty International issued a statement on the occasion of International Workers’ Day (May 1), calling on the Islamic Republic authorities to immediately release workers and civil activists who were arrested in strikes and other peaceful protests.
Source: Voice of America
