Ten workers of Haft Tapeh Sugarcane Company were tried

Ten workers of the Haft Tapeh Sugarcane Company were tried in the Susa court. 

According to the Telegram channel of the Haft Tapeh Sugarcane Company Workers' Union, these ten workers appeared in the Susa court today, Wednesday, August 13. 

These individuals have been charged with “illegal assembly” to demand “change of management and release of Esmaeil Bakhshi.” The assembly was held on May 9 of this year. 

Yesterday, it was announced that seven workers of the company had been sentenced to eight months of suspended prison sentences and 20 lashes by the court. 

Workers at Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Plant went on strike on November 25, 2018, protesting the non-payment of their overdue wages for more than three months. The protesters believed that the private sector employer was incapable of managing the factory and that the workers' council could run the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Plant better than the employer.

But in return, the security forces responded violently to these labor protests. 

Currently, Esmael Bakhshi, a worker at the company, Sepideh Gholian, a civil activist, Amir Hossein Mohammadifard, Sanaz Alhayari, Asal Mohammadi, and Amir Amirgholi, members of the editorial board of the student publication Gam, are among the people arrested in this case. 

Previously, the Persian account of the US State Department criticized the arrest of Iranian labor activists on International Labor Day (May 1) in a tweet, writing, "The Islamic Republic regime could have paid the salaries of workers in Iran with the money it spent in Syria."

Source: Voice of America