Security clash with Iranian protesters; 74 lashes sentence for dismissed worker executed on charges of insulting Labor Minister

Reports indicate that Davoud Rafiei, a dismissed worker at Pars Khodro Company, was flogged 74 times on charges of "insulting" the Minister of Labor, despite the fact that the verdict is not yet final.

According to images published on social media, the flogging sentence of Davoud Rafiei, a dismissed worker from Pars Khodro Company, has been carried out.

The Telegram channel of the "Free Union of Iranian Workers" wrote that the "unconfirmed" sentence of 74 lashes for this dismissed worker from Pars Khodro Company was carried out when he had gone to the prosecutor's office to pursue his case.

Reports indicate that Mr. Rafiei was fired from Pars Khodro Company in 2012 during labor protests. He was arrested during the 2017 labor protests for holding a sign with the slogan “Death to the Minister of Labor,” and was sentenced to 74 lashes on charges of insulting the Minister of Labor.

Labor activist Esmaeil Bakhshi, who was previously imprisoned for participating in the protests, reacted to the execution of the sentence on Twitter, describing the flogged body of this worker as “the flogged body of all Iranian workers.” He continued: “The worker produces with suffering and hardship, the leech reaps its profits, the leech embezzles, the worker eats his whip.”

This is not the first time that protesting workers in Iran have been sentenced to flogging. Seyyed Rasoul Taleb Moghaddam, a member of the workers' union of the Vahed Company, was sentenced by the Revolutionary Court in September last year to two years in prison, 74 lashes, and two years of exile to the Afriz region, a part of the Sadeh district of South Khorasan Province, on charges of "propaganda activity against the regime" and "disturbing public order."

The US State Department has repeatedly condemned the violent confrontations and widespread repression of protesters, as well as the repeated and persistent violations of the rights of Iranian citizens, including workers, by the ruling regime in that country, and has said that the Islamic Republic's regime could have paid for the salaries of workers in Iran with the money it spent in Syria.

Source: Voice of America