Dozens of the workers have been arrested
Since October 10th, oil and gas workers in Asalouye and Kangan in South Pars, in Bushehr in southern Iran are in strike. The workers of the phase 2 of the Abadan refinery, also in southern Iran, started their strike and protests in solidarity with the widespread popular uprising in Iran. These protests continue among some of Asalouye’s oil workers. However, due to the internet interruption and the severe securitised situation in the oil installations, accurate reports are difficult to obtain and the reports are sent with delays.
During these protests, initially more than thirty people were arrested and in the following days many more were arrested. The precise number or of arrestees has reached to 100, according to some reports.
On October 17th, some of the arrested were released on bail and even fined. But the rest of those arrested are still in prison. Due to the existence of many oil related companies in Asalouye area, and strict security control, their exact number is not known.
In its latest statement, the Organising Council of the Protests of the Project Oil Workers warned the Iranian authorities that if the jailed oil workers are not released and the security forces are not withdrawn from the oil installations, the strike will be widened.
We call on all trade unions and workers’ organisations around the world to support the oil workers, condemn the Iranian regime’s attacks on them and to demand that all jailed workers be released immediately.
The anti-worker actions of the Islamic Republic and its use of brutal violence against women and men on the streets of Iranian cities should be condemned in the strongest possible terms.
Furthermore, we call on you to demand that this regime be boycotted globally and thrown out of all international UN bodies, such as the ILO.
Global political isolation, as was once achieved successfully against the racial apartheid regime, is a concrete act of solidarity with the workers and the protesting women and men of Iran against the regime of gender apartheid.
Free Them Now! (FTN) Campaign to free Jailed Workers in Iran
19 October 2022