Free Union of Iranian Workers: Suppression of workers is to intimidate society

Following the issuance of heavy sentences to a number of labor activists and the police attack on a gathering of HEPCO workers and the beating of these workers, the Free Union of Workers of Iran issued a statement condemning the "widespread wave of repression of workers" and calling it an "attempt by government institutions to intimidate" workers and society as a whole.

The statement, published on the website of the Free Union of Iranian Workers, refers to the widespread worker rallies protesting the non-payment of workers' demands and states: "The officials do not show the slightest action to respond to the workers' demands and demands, and instead, they suppress any kind of demands and demands for their rights by arresting and issuing prison sentences and floggings to the workers."

The statement added: "In this regard, the raids by law enforcement and security forces on labor gatherings in order to intimidate all Iranian workers have become a routine matter for government institutions."

The statement then referred to the police attack on a gathering of Hepco workers, injuring many of them and simultaneously arresting 28 of these workers, and stated that another part of the policy of suppressing workers has been pursued through arrests and issuing long-term prison sentences and floggings over the past year.

The statement went on to point out the heavy sentences handed down to labor activists, including sentences of 6 to 18 years in prison for seven of the Haft Tappeh detainees, and the filing of cases against other activists, including Parvin Mohammadi, Nahid Khodajoo, Shapour Ehsani Rad, Nasrin Javadi, Farhad Sheikhi, Hadi Soleimani, and Mehdi Fakhri, and the six-year prison sentence handed down to Jafar Azimzadeh, chairman of the board of directors of the Free Workers Union of Iran, as evidence of the fact that "the ruling apparatus has no desire to respond to and fulfill the demands and demands of workers, teachers, and retirees."

The Free Union of Iranian Workers continued its statement by stating that "the reality of society clearly shows that, contrary to the rulers' imagination, society is not intimidated by this type of repression."

The United States has repeatedly condemned Iran's security crackdown on workers. The US State Department also said in a message that the Islamic Republic's regime could have paid the salaries of workers in Iran with the money it spent in Syria.

Source: Voice of America