Mehdi Yarahi is a Iranian pop singer and songwriter from Ahvaz, Khuzestan province. His permission to perform has been revoked by Cultural Ministry of Islamic Republic of Iran for excuse of “lack of appropriate licence for a music video”. However everyone knows that he has been sanctioned for his support of workers of National Steel Group of Ahvaz.
On 27th December 2018, Mehdi Yarahi held a concert and all the band appeared on stage with steelworkers’ uniform. During the concert he quoted:
“Human beings are members of a whole
In creation of one essence and soul
If one member is afflicted with pain
Other members uneasy will remain
If you have no sympathy for human pain
The name of human you cannot retain ”
and added: “specially if that aching part is the heart. Workers are hearts of a society. I dedicate this concert to the steelworkers” that was welcomed with clapping and cheering of the audience.
The arrest of striking steelworkers, mobilising special armed forces against the workers and people of Ahvaz, unblushing Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps against the workers in the factory, and now sanctioning a pop singer from Ahvaz who dedicated a concert to striking workers shows how desperate Islamic Republic of Iran is and how afraid of the workers and the people the Islamic regime of capitalists are.
The fear of Islamic Republic of Iran and its paranoia is a result of unity of the people, the workers and amazing support of the international workers and humanitarian organisations that have been supporting the workers and proven in action that “human beings are members of a whole”.
We call on every workers’ and humanitarian organisations to condemn Islamic Republic of Iran for sanctioning Mehdi Yarahi and his band, and to continue the pressure on Islamic Republic of Iran for its oppression and inhumanity.
Campaign to Free jailed workers in Iran (Free Them Now)
January 3, 2019