Human Rights Watch Protests Intensified Crackdown on Workers and Teachers in Iran

Human Rights Watch criticized recent security measures against labor activists and teachers in Iran. According to the international human rights organization, statements by Iranian officials about national unity are “hollow” given the imprisonment of these activists.

Human Rights Watch announced Thursday, December 22 (November 22), by issuing a statement that authorities of the Islamic Republic have intensified their crackdown on labor activists and teachers in recent weeks for their peaceful protest movements and organizing these protests.

Human Rights Watch in its statement particularly referred to the professional movement of teachers in various Iranian cities as well as protest gatherings and marches by workers of Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company in recent days and weeks.

On November 13, Iranian teachers, at the invitation of the “Coordination Council of Professional Organizations of Educators,” launched a nationwide strike in protest of inadequate wages given high inflation and difficult living conditions. This was the second organized strike by Iranian teachers since schools reopened on the first day of the Iranian month of Mehr.

Michael Page, Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Division at Human Rights Watch, said in this regard: “Iranian authorities are punishing teachers and labor activists for demanding justified wage increases and peaceful protests, which are basic labor rights.”

Page added: “Recent statements by Iranian officials about national unity and resistance against external pressure are hollow words at a time when they are sending labor activists and educators to prison for demanding fair wages.”

Human Rights Watch, citing the Telegram channel of the “Coordination Council of Professional Organizations of Educators,” announced that since November 10, at least 12 teachers in Iran have been arrested and 30 others have been summoned and interrogated.

Sepah Intelligence operatives arrested Hashem Khwastar, a prominent member of the Teachers’ Professional Association in Mashhad, on November 1 following the first round of the teachers’ strike. After a period of no contact, Khwastar’s relatives learned that Sepah Intelligence had transferred the 65-year-old retired teacher to the psychiatric ward of Ibn Sina Hospital in Mashhad for unknown reasons. Khwastar was subsequently released on November 20. This was despite the fact that Hashem Khwastar had no history of mental illness.

Rasoul Badaghi, a member of the Teachers’ Professional Association who spent more than seven years in Evin and Gohardasht prisons for his peaceful activities, told Human Rights Watch that security operatives arrested Hashem Khwastar without informing him of charges and while in the hospital. According to Human Rights Watch, three prominent members of the Iranian Teachers’ Professional Association are still in prison.

According to the international human rights organization, recent crackdowns against labor activists in Iran have extended to the private sector. The Telegram channel of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Workers’ Syndicate reported on November 27 the arrest of all members of the workers’ representatives assembly of this company, including Esmaeil Bakshi and Moslem Armand. Although Mostafa Nazari, the prosecutor of Shush district, announced two days before the release of 15 of the arrested, some of them remain imprisoned. The Telegram channel of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Syndicate quoted the workers’ lawyer as saying that Esmaeil Bakshi and three other workers “remain in detention pending further notice.”

Worker protests at Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company began approximately three weeks ago. Workers at this company have not received wages for four months. The company’s employer is “absconding.” While protesting “endless problems” and “incompetence of the private employer” of this company, workers are demanding the transfer of ownership of this industrial unit to the workers and its administration by a workers’ council, or its return to the state sector with a workers’ supervisory council overseeing the company’s administration.

Human Rights Watch, noting that Iranian labor law does not recognize the right to form independent labor unions, wrote that Islamic Republic institutions have, over the past 13 years, “repeatedly harassed, summoned, arrested, and convicted workers associated with independent labor unions.”

Both the “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights” and the “International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,” of which Iran is a member, support the right to form or join labor unions.

The Deputy Director of the Middle East Division of Human Rights Watch, regarding the “increasing crackdown” on teachers and labor activists, said this measure is an “old method” that Iranian institutions “have pursued for decades.” According to Michael Page: “Rather than making unions a bridge between officials and union members, Iranian institutions suppress any attempt at peaceful organizing.”

Source: DW