At Least 40 Detained in Connection With Protests at Ahvaz Sugar Mill

JUNE 20, 2019

A group of workers of the Hafteh Tappeh sugar mill company in Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province, published a list of 40 names of colleagues and supporters who’ve been detained in recent months in connection with protests for unpaid wages at the mill.

“We know that the names of many dear individuals are not on this list,” said the unnamed workers in a statement posted on the group’s Telegram app channel on June 13, 2019. “The majority of these names include Haft Tappeh workers, along with dear family members, labor supporters and even guests at their homes who were detained and interrogated.”

The following names were posted on the channel:

—  Esmail Bakhshi
—  Ali Nejati
—  Mohammad Khonifar
—  Omid Azadi
—  Emad Kasir
—  Mahmoud Sa’di
—  Mehdi Davoudi
—  Moselm Armand
—  Azim Sorkheh
—  … Salamatnia
—  Pouya Bashmeh
—  Saeed Mansouri
—  Khaled Tamimi
—  Jalil Ahmadi
—  Saeed Alkasir
—  Hassan Fazeli
—  Samir Ahmadi
—  Saheb Zahiri
—  Nasser Neami
—  [First name unknown] Alizadeh
—  [First name unknown] Kianinejad
—  Aref Jamili
—  Faisal Salebi
—  Hassan Kohanaki
—  Ghasem Baladi
—  Adel Samaie
—  Rostam Kasir
—  Hassan Ansari
—  Rostam Abdolahzadeh
—  Esmail Ja’alvah
—  Mohammad Omidvar
—  Sepideh Qoliyan
—  Amir Amirgholi
—  Asal Mohammadi
—  Sanaz Allahyari
—  Amirhossein Mohammadifard
—  Mehdi Qoliyan
—  Peyman Nejati
—  Majid Rayaie
—  Shahin Pishahang

The most prominent cases include Haft Tappeh workers’ representatives Esmail Bakhshi and Ali Nejati, and freelance reporter Sepideh Qoliyan.

Bakhshi and Qoliyan have been imprisoned since January 2019 after both reported that Bakhshi had been tortured while in the custody of the Intelligence Ministry.

Nejati has been in jail since November 2018 for attending protests at the sugar mill.

All three detainees have suffered serious violations of their due process and human rights, including being denied access to counsel and medical treatment.

The journalists who’ve been detained after reporting on the Haft Tappeh protests include Amirhossein Mohammadifard, the editor-in-chief of the Gam Telegram app channel, his colleague and wife Sanaz Allahyari, and two staff reporters, Ali (Amir) Amirgholi and Asal Mohammadi.

All seven are due to be tried at Branch 15 of the revolutionary court in Tehran on charges of “assembly and collusion against national security,” “forming groups with the intention to disturb national security” and “contacts with anti-state organizations.”

Qoliyan and Bakhshi face additional charges of “disturbing public opinion” and “publishing falsehoods.”

“It is worth noting that many members of the Bakhshi, Qoliyan, Amirgholi, Allahyari, Mohamadifar, and Mohammadi families have been interrogated, threatened and intimidated numerous times and subjected to psychological torture,” said the statement.

“The list of workers who’ve been threatened over the phone by the security agencies separately adds up to more than 60,” it added. “We call on all workers, labor organizations and the media… to do everything possible to support the detained workers.”

Independent unions are not allowed to officially operate in Iran, strikers often lose their jobs and risk arrest, and labor leaders who attempt to organize workers and bargain collectively are prosecuted under national security charges and sentenced to long prison sentences.

The workers’ statement follows an appeal by a group of Haft Tappeh workers to the International Labor Organization (ILO) urging it to investigate the detentions and suppression of workers’ rights activists in at the mill.