Shapour Ehsani Rad, Member of the Free Union of Iranian Workers Board of Directors, Sentenced to Prison and Exile
Shapour Ehsani Rad, a labor activist and member of the board of directors of the Free Union of Iranian Workers, has been sentenced to 6 years in prison by the Tehran Revolutionary Court.
According to reports published on social media, Shapour Ehsani Rad, a member of the board of directors of the Free Union of Iranian Workers, has been sentenced by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court to 6 years in prison, 2 years of exile, and a ban on membership in political and social parties, groups, and organizations on charges of “gathering and conspiracy against national security” and “propaganda activities against the system.”
According to reports issued, this labor activist has been sentenced to five years in prison on the charge of “gathering and conspiracy against national security” and one year in prison on the charge of “propaganda activities against the system,” and as supplementary punishment, to two years of exile to one of the districts of Nik in Sistan and Baluchestan province and a ban on membership in political and social parties and organizations.
The Free Union of Iranian Workers condemned the issuance of this ruling in a statement, writing that the five-page verdict issued against Shapour Ehsani Rad is entirely evidence of baseless claims that in every way attempt to transform union and labor activities into security issues so that workers and labor movement activists can be sentenced to lengthy prison terms.
The statement continues by saying that this type of attempt by the judicial institution to suppress and destroy union activities is entirely condemned, and all rulings issued against workers that are issued through baseless charges should be nullified.
Shapour Ehsani Rad was arrested in early Mordad at his workplace by security forces and after some time was temporarily released from Evin Prison upon posting bail until the end of legal proceedings.
In late Shahrivar of the current year, following the issuance of heavy sentences for a number of labor activists and an attack by police forces on a gathering of Hepco workers and the beating of these workers, the Free Union of Iranian Workers, in issuing a statement, while condemning the “widespread wave of repression of workers,” considered it an “attempt by government institutions to intimidate” workers and society as a whole.
In a section of this statement regarding heavy sentences for labor activists, including sentences of 6 years to 18 years in prison for seven of those arrested in Haft Tappeh, and the opening of cases for 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 of Jafar Azimzadeh, chairman of the board of directors of the Free Union of Iranian Workers, these cases were considered to demonstrate the fact that “the ruling apparatus has no inclination to accountability and the realization of the demands and aspirations of workers, teachers, and retirees.”
The United States has repeatedly condemned the security measures taken by the ruling regime in Iran against workers. The U.S. State Department said some time ago in a message that the Islamic Republic regime, with the amount it has spent in Syria, could have paid workers’ wages in Iran.
Source: Voice of America
