On 18th November 2018, striking workers of Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane firm held an assembly in front of governor’s office of Shush city where all the workers’ representatives and some workers’ activists and a journalist (Mis Sepideh Ghelyan) were arrested. Altogether 19 workers were arrested. Following a mass protest by the Haft Tapeh sugar cane workers along with the hundreds of people of Sush and the large-scale solidarity of the workers, a number of detained workers were released on 19th November. But Esmail Bakhshi the wellknown and popular workers representative, along with three other workers Mohammad Khannifar , Moslem Armand, and Seyed Hassan Fazeli are are still in detention. Campaign to free all these workers continues.
It is now more than 2 weeks that Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane workers are protesting following no response by the authorities to their demands.
Right after the arrests the lawyer of the workers contacted the authorities to represent the arrested workers but head of the State Prosecutor’s Office and the “Revolutionary Court of Shoush” declared that they have no news about the arrests and their whereabouts.
Workers of Haft Tapeh and families of the arrested workers who demand immediate release of the arrested gathered in front of the headquarter of the security forces.
Workers of Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane have not been paid for four months and their jobs are at risk because of closure of some of the production lines as a result of the embezzlements in the corporation. The workers have been protesting “slave-like” working conditions, poverty and below-minimum-wage salaries, and unsafe workplace.
The protest have received widespread support and solidarity from society. Teachers, students, marketers, workers of Paper Factory of Shush, people of Shush city, and workers of Steel National Group of Ahwaz who face the same issues as Haft Tapeh workers have supported the protests and strikes. “Free Them Now” stands in solidarity with workers of Haft Tapeh and their families, urge the international labour organisations and workers’ unions to demand immediate and unconditional release of all the workers, condemn the Islamic Republic of Iran for the arrests, and show their solidarity with the workers and support their demands. We can and we must make sure that all the workers are released immediately and unconditionally.
Campaign to Free jailed workers in Iran(Free Them Now)
November 18, 2018