"Case-building" against a labor activist; Jafar Azimzadeh's 13-month prison sentence upheld in the appeals court

The 13-month prison sentence of Jafar Azimzadeh, the secretary of the board of the Free Workers Union of Iran and a imprisoned labor activist serving his sentence in Evin, was upheld by the appeals court. The Free Workers Union of Iran had previously called the new allegations against him by the judicial and security apparatus “case-building.”

An informed source told VOA on Monday, August 4, that the prison sentence for the imprisoned labor activist, which was issued in late June by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court on charges of “propaganda against the Islamic Republic through media activity inside the prison,” was also confirmed by Judge Zargar, head of Branch 36 of the Tehran Provincial Court of Appeal. The sentence was delivered to Jafar Azimzadeh in Evin Prison on Saturday, August 1, after about a month.

Previously, Akram Rahimpour, Mr. Azimzadeh's wife, had stated on her Instagram that the reason for issuing this sentence was the labor activist's written and verbal protest against the termination of medical insurance for political and non-political prisoners in 2019 and the issuance of heavy sentences against Haft Tappeh workers and workers participating in the International Workers' Day ceremony in front of the parliament.

In addition to Mr. Azimzadeh's sentence, Branch 2 of the Investigation Department of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor's Office of District 33 in Tehran has also opened a case against Akram Rahimpour, the wife of this labor activist, on the pretext of several interviews he conducted about his wife's situation, and has accused her of "propaganda against the system."

On Sunday, August 2, the Free Union of Iranian Workers, while expressing its disgust at the re-sentencing of Jafar Azimzadeh, republished a letter from a group of political prisoners, of which the imprisoned labor activist was one of the signatories, as well as an audio file of him protesting the sentencing of the workers. The union wrote on its website that its goal in republishing the letter and audio file is to “bring the scope of the regime’s systematic, oppressive actions against workers to greater public attention.”

Jafar Azimzadeh, who was temporarily released from prison in July 2016 following a hunger strike with the promise of judicial authorities to resume proceedings and grant him an extendable leave, was arrested by security forces in the Pardis area of ​​Karaj on February 29, 2018. He was transferred to the 8th Ward 9 of Evin Prison to serve his 6-year prison sentence, which had previously been issued to him by the Tehran Revolutionary Court on charges of "gathering and colluding with the intention of acting against national security," "disturbing public order," and "propaganda activity against the system." He is currently serving his sentence in this prison.

It should be noted that an informed source had previously confirmed in an interview with Voice of America that this imprisoned labor activist was beaten on August 25 by a prisoner accused of drug trafficking with whom he had no prior history of conflict, and that in the afternoon of the same day, while this labor activist was exercising in the prison yard, he was attacked by another prisoner who has a severe drug addiction.