Workers Control The Streets In The City Of Ahwaz And Shooh ....

Workers in " Haft Tapeh " and " Foulad Ahwaz " continue their
strike .
In this picture , workers have gathered in front of the Governor
building
in the city of Shoosh .

The workers demanded to stop privatization of the company
and to return the company to public ownership .

For Immediate Release

Iran: Mounting Crackdown on Teachers, Labor Activists
Authorities Arrest Union Leaders, Threaten Strikers 

(Beirut, November 22, 2018) – Iranian authorities have increased targeting of teachers and labor activists in recent weeks for organizing and conducting peaceful protests, Human Rights Watch said today.

On November 13, 2018, the Council for Coordination among Teachers Unions organized a walkout involving dozens of teachers across Iran to protest their insufficient salaries due to high inflation and poor living conditions. It was the second teacher-organized walkout since September 21, when Iran’s public school year began.

“Iranian authorities are punishing teachers and labor activists for exercising their collective bargaining rights and conducting peaceful protests that are essential freedoms for all workers,” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Authorities’ recent talk of ‘national unity and resistance against foreign pressure’ are empty words when they throw educators and labor activists in jail for demanding a fair wage.”

The Telegram channel of the Council for Coordination among Teachers Unions reported that the authorities have arrested at least 12 teachers since November 11 and reportedly summoned and interrogated 30 more. The authorities arrested Hashem Khastar, a prominent Teachers Union member in Mashhad, on November 1, after the first walkout, and held him in a psychiatric hospital until November 19, then released him. Three other prominent members of the teacher’s union are also currently behind bars in Iran.

Iran’s recent crackdown on labor activists has extended to the private sector. On November 18, the Telegram channel of the Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Workers' Syndicate reported that authorities arrested all members of the association of labor representatives for the Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane company, including two of the group’s prominent leaders, Esmael Bakhshi and Mohsen Armand. On November 20, Mosfata Nazari, the prosecutor of Shoosh County, told reporters that authorities have released 15 labor activistswho were arrested during the protests.

Rasoul Bodaghi, a Teachers Union member who spent seven years in prison from 2009 to 2016 for his peaceful activism, told Human Rights Watch that authorities detained Khastar in the hospital without bringing charges. Sadighe Maleki, Khastar’s wife, told the Center for Human Rights in Iran on October 25 that authorities at the hospital requested permission from the Mashhad’s prosecutor’s office before allowing her to visit.

The government has arrested other teachers in similar circumstances over the years. On April 21, during teacher week in Iran, authorities arrested Mohammad Habibi, a Teachers’ Union member, during a peaceful demonstration. Authorities had initially arrested Habibi on March 3 but had released him on bail a few days later. On August 4, Amir Raeesian, Habibi’s lawyer, told ISNA news agency, that branch 26 of Tehran’s revolutionary court, had sentenced Habibi to seven and a half years in prison for “assembly and collusion to act against national security,” to 18 months in prison for “propaganda against the state,” to 18 months in prison and 74 lashes for “disrupting public order,” and to a 2-year ban from membership in political parties and traveling outside the country.

If the court of appeal upholds the sentence, under article 134 of Iran’s penal code, Habibi will serve seven and a half years.

After a peaceful protest in front of Iran’s parliament in May 2015, authorities arrested and prosecuted two prominent members of the Teachers Union. In 2017, authorities arrested Ismael Abdi, the Teachers Union secretary-general, and Mahmoud Beheshti Langeroudi, the union spokesman, who had both been previously released on bail, to serve their sentences.

Abdi had been sentenced to six years in February 2016, on charges of “propaganda against the state” and “assembly and collusion against national security,” partly for a teachers’ demonstration in front of the Parliament. On April 9, 2018, Langroudi’s family told ILNA news agency that a court of appeal had reduced his sentence from 14 years to 5 years. Bodaghi said that Beheshi’s charge also stemmed from planning for the demonstration in front of the parliament. 

Bodaghi said that after his conviction, the Education Ministry expelled him from his teaching job. He filed an appeal after he served his sentence, and on May 30, 2018, he was told that he could only receive financial compensation for his tenure.

On November 18, Gholamreza Shariati, the governor of Khuzistan, told IRNA news agency that four people had been arrested during the Haft Tappeh protests. Labor protesters say that conditions at the 50-year old Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Company have deteriorated since its privatization in 2015. In a video a journalist, Mohmmad Mosaed, published on Twitter on September 1, dozen workers say that they have not been paid for several months.

Iran’s labor law does not recognize the right to create labor unions independent of government-sanctioned groups such as the Islamic Labor Council. Since 2005, authorities have repeatedly harassed, summoned, arrested, convicted, and sentenced workers affiliated with independent trade unions.

Article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and article 8 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) protect the right to form and join labor unions. Iran is a party to both of these treaties. Iran is a member of the International Labour Organization (ILO), but has refused to sign the treaty’s convention 87 on Freedom of Association and the Protection of the Right to Organize and 98 on the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining.

“The escalating crackdown against teachers and labor activists follows the same old recipe that authorities have pursued for decades,” Page said. “Rather than empowering unions to act as a bridge between authorities and its members, Iranian authorities suppress any effort at peaceful mobilization.”

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Iran, please visit: 
https://www.hrw.org/middle-east/n-africa/iran

For more information, please contact: 
In Beirut, Tara Sepehri Far (English, Farsi): +1-617-893-0375 (mobile); or sepehrt@hrw.org. Twitter: @sepehrifar
In New York, Michael Page (English): +1-646-299-2448 (mobile); or pagem@hrw.org. Twitter: @MichaelARPage

Ismail Bakhshi Leader Of " Haft Tapeh " Workers in The City Of Shoosh .....Speaks With Workers And Their Families In Front Of The Governor's Building .....Esmail Bakhshi and 19 Others Have Been Arrested ....Esmail Bakhshi Was Talking About A Peaceful Gathering On Their 14th Days Of Strike ....He Said : This Is My Will , If Im Dead , No One Should Bury My Dead Body , Just Carry The Empty Coffins ........

Thousands of Workers of " Ney-Shekar Haft-Tapeh " And " Foulad Steel Company" Gathered In Front Of Governor's Building In The City Of Shoosh And Ahwaz Despite of Many Security Forces Around the City ....

News ..

" Ney- Shekar -Haft -Tapeh " Workers are in their 13th day of strike in the city of Shoosh .....

Despite of many load of security forces by regime in the city , the workers gathered in front of Governors building for protest.

Reports indicates that , many women and students have joined the workers to protest .

The workers demanded their unpaid salaries to be paid  and  also to return the ownership of the factory from private ownership to public .

Ismail Bakhshi " Haft Tapeh " Workers Representative spoke to the protesters about the corruption and stealing by Presidents first deputy from "Haft Tapeh ".....

In the city of Ahwaz also the workers at Foulad Steel Company protested in front of the Governors building and in a joint action with " Haft Tapeh  ..." workers they also demanded for their rights .

10 Years Jail For Bahai Father And Daughter .......

According to news , A Bahai father and daughter from the city of Shiraz received 10 years jail term ....

Mr. Nematollah Bengaleh and his daughter Nazanin both from the city of Shiraz each one received  five years prison sentences by Shiraz city court of revolution.

Both have protested to the sentencing and the case went to appeal court.

This is happening while Mr. Zarif  regimes Foreign Minister says : " Being Bahai in Iran is not a crime " .

Both Mr. Bengaleh and his daughter were arrested earlier and their house were searched and they both were released on bail.

Suppression And The Arrests Of Striking Teachers .....

News from Iran ....

On 2nd round of strike by teachers in Iran ...

The Coordinating Council Of Teachers Union :

30 members have been summoned and interrogated ....
More than 50 teachers have received threatening messages ...
And since Sunday at least 12 teachers have been arrested ....

Golrokh Iraei : My Husbands Life Is In Great Danger ....

Golrokh Iraei in an open letter to the authorities :
My husband developed bone cancer and need immediate treatment but the authorities won't do anything for his treatment  .
Arash Sadeghi the imprisoned husband of Golrokh Iraei has developed bone cancer and need immediate release from prison and treatment in a hospital .

IRAN WATCH CANADA : Is there ears to listen?

Students : Congratulation On Teachers Day To Brave Teachers ......We are All children of Abdi ( Esmail Abdi the imprisoned teacher ) .......Students Support Esmail Abdi the imprisoned Teacher .....

2nd Teachers Strike In All Over Iran ......

Teachers in all over Iran started their strike from today . The strike is organized by Iran teachers council. The teachers will go to school but won't attend in classes.
This is the 2nd attempt of Iran teachers to boycott the classes . Teachers again and again asked the authorities to fulfil their demands :
immediately release the imprisoned teachers .
Stop privatization of school .
Free education for all students .  
To increase their salaries ....

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

PRESS RELEASE 

13 November 2018

Iran: Fears mounting for detained Ahwazi Arabs amid reports of secret executions

Iranian authorities must immediately disclose the fate and whereabouts of hundreds of members of the Ahwazi Arab ethnic minority being held without access to their families or lawyers, Amnesty International said following reports that some have been executed in secret. 

In the last few days, Ahwazi Arab activists outside Iran have told Amnesty International that 22 men, including civil society activist Mohammad Momeni Timas, have been killed in secret. 

Since 24 September, up to 600 Ahwazi Arabs have been detained incommunicado in a wave of arrestsfollowing a deadly armed attack that took place in Ahvaz, Khuzestan province, two days earlier. 

“If confirmed, the secret executions of these men would be not only a crime under international law but also an abhorrent violation of their right to life and a complete mockery of justice, even by the shocking standards of Iran’s judicial system,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

“It is difficult to imagine that these individuals could have received a fair trial within merely a few weeks of their arrests, let alone had the opportunity to appeal death sentences.”

One of those reported to have been secretly executed is Ahmad Heydari, a 30-year-old ceramics shopkeeper who was arrested within a few days of the armed attack in Ahvaz. 

His family heard no news of his fate or whereabouts until 11 November, when they received a telephone call summoning them to the information centre of the Ministry of Intelligence in Ahvaz. There, they were given his death certificate and told he had been executed on 8 November. 

Officials said they were not handing over his body for burial and told the family they were not allowed to hold a memorial service for him. 

By contrast, the governor of Khuzestan province told the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency on 12 November that reports of 22 detainees being executed are “complete lies”. He also said that those arrested in connection with the Ahvaz attack have been charged, but gave no indication that any of them had been brought to trial.

“In the absence of any information about the whereabouts of the detainees feared killed, the governor’s blanket denial will provide little comfort to families who have been unable to see or hear from their relatives since their arrests,” said Philip Luther.

“The reported executions heighten our fears that the hundreds of other Ahwazi Arabs in detention in the wake of the Ahvaz attack may face death sentences or other harsh treatment.”

Amnesty International calls on the Iranian authorities to reveal the whereabouts of all the detainees without further delay and provide information about what legal procedures have taken place to date. The authorities must give the families and their lawyers access to the detainees and ensure they are protected from torture and other ill-treatment. 

Amnesty International is also calling on the authorities to release immediately and unconditionally any Ahwazi Arabs held solely for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression, association or peaceful assembly or solely on account of their ethnic identity.

“While the Iranian authorities have a duty to bring to justice anyone suspected of criminal responsibility for the attack in Ahvaz in fair trials, they must not use this as an excuse to carry out a purge against members of Iran’s persecuted Ahwazi Arab ethnic minority,” said Philip Luther. 

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or the method used by the state to kill the prisoner. The death penalty is a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

Public Document 

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact: Sara Hashash, MENA Media Manager on sara.hashash@amnesty.org or +44 207 413 5511 

Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on: +44 20 7413 5566 or press@amnesty.orgtwitter: @amnestypress