Seventh Day of Strike at Haft Tappeh | Protesters Demand Freedom for Imprisoned Workers and Reinstatement of Dismissed Employees

Haft Tappeh sugarcane workers gathered on Sunday, September 28, outside the company’s management offices on the seventh day of their strike.

The Haft Tappeh workers’ strike entered its seventh day on Sunday as these workers demand the cancellation of privatization, the release of imprisoned workers, and the annulment of sentences issued against Esmail Bakhshi and Mohammad Khanifar, detained workers, as well as the reinstatement of 21 dismissed employees from the company.

The severe sentences of 14 years in prison for Esmail Bakhshi and 6 years for Mohammad Khanifar, Haft Tappeh workers, have drawn considerable criticism so far.

A new round of Haft Tappeh workers’ protests began on September 1st. Previously, the Haft Tappeh Workers’ Syndicate reported that some protesting workers have been threatened with “wage deductions, warnings placed in their files, reduction of work contract duration, and summoning of workers by security police.”

Nevertheless, these protests continue to be pursued by Haft Tappeh workers.

Haft Tappeh workers’ protests began extensively in 2018, but these protests faced security and judicial action by the government. Esmail Bakhshi, a representative of Haft Tappeh workers, was among those workers who, after his arrest, declared that he had been tortured, and was arrested for the second time in February of last year.

The United States has repeatedly condemned Iran’s security crackdown on workers. The U.S. State Department also said in a statement that the Islamic Republic regime could have paid workers’ rights in Iran with the expense it incurred in Syria.

Source: Voice of America