On the upcoming May Day in 2018, free all jailed labour activists in Iran
Hundreds of workers and labour activists are harassed and attacked on a daily basis and end u
p in prison in Iran just because they are demanding their rights. The families of jailed labour activists are also constantly harassed and threatened, by the Islamic regime’s security forces, with imprisonment if they do not stop demanding the release of their loved one from prison. Labour activists are regularly imprisoned, tortured, flogged and are being given lengthy prison sentences, and some even have been executed for being a labour activist.
Jailed workers and political prisoners are in danger of dying under torture. Some also die as a result of being deliberately deprived of medical attention and the authorities announce that it was from natural causes; the families of these jailed workers are not allowed to investigate the cause of the death. One such example was a well-known jailed labour activist Shahrokh Zamani who died in prison under a suspicious circumstance in 2015.
The Islamic regime in Iran arrests worker for posting their views on social media, speaking up in the work places, organising gathering to demand their unpaid wages, protesting against their appalling working condition, demanding their right to strike, assembly and to form independent trade unions and other workers’ organisations. These workers are also imprisoned for participating and organising May Day gatherings and other labour related activities. These workers are given lengthy prison sentences under the name of the National Security charges such as ‘gathering and colluding to commit crimes against national security’, ‘spreading propaganda against the system’, ‘disrupting public orders’ and ‘forming a group with the purpose of disturbing national security’. The abuse of workers’ rights has been going on for over 39 years. In 1989, Jamal Cheragveisi, a 25 years old labour activist, was arrested for organising and speaking in the May Day event and he was then executed in 1990. In May 2016, following workers’ protest against their employment conditions and the dismissals of 350 workers, the regime carried out flogging sentences against 17 workers at Agh Dareh Gold Mine in West Azerbaijan Province. Each worker received between 30 and 100 lashes. There are several other labour activists in different cities in Iran who have been sentenced to flogging.
Despite all the pressures from the regime in Iran, labour activists have not stopped fighting for worker’s right. We are witnessing an increasing number of protests, strikes and rallies in factories across Iran. Jailed labour activists and their families are under an immense pressure from the regime to stop their activities, but they continue their fight and even issue statements from prison; They call on people and the international community to support labour movement in their struggle against the regime. The Islamic regime in Iran has not been able to silence the labour activists. Labour activists need our support and solidarity.
On the upcoming May Day, the International Workers Day 2018, we, the undersigned, demand:
- Workers in Iran must be allowed to hold May Day event without being threatened or arrested
- Workers in Iran must be able to freely exercise their fundamental right including to set up their own organisations, to organise and
take part in rallies, assemblies and protests, and to organise strike actions
- The terror and violence against workers and their families in Iran must be stopped
- All jailed workers must be immediately and unconditionally released
- Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran (CFPPI)
- Free Them Now- Campaign to free Jailed Workers in Iran
- International Committee against Execution
- Workers Solidarity Network of the Middle East and North Africa
- Committee for abolishing death penalty in Iraq
- Andrea Duncan,Vice-President, Community Social Services, BCGEU
- Eric Lee, Founding Editor of LabourStart
- JoopeA Foundation
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The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers