On 6th March 2019, Mohamdali Jedari Foroughi, lawyer of Jafar Azimzadeh, stated that the Islamic Republic’s judiciary has sentenced him to 30 lashes on top of the six years in prison. The excuse for such heinous sentence is that Jafar Azimzadeh did not respond to his summon on time.
The Islamic Republic sentenced Jafar, director of the Free Workers Union of Iran, to 6 years in prison in 2016. Just before 1 May 2016, he went on a hunger strike for 63 days and the campaign in his support and to end the militarisation of the workers’ struggle began.
As a result of the campaign, the Islamic Republic was forced to temporarily free Jafar. Now that he has been arrested again, the regime has also sentenced him to 30 lashes.
The heinous aggression is nothing but the Islamic Republic’s desperate reaction to the workers, teachers and the people of Iran who have been strongly confronting the regime with their widespread protests and strikes. There were strikes and protests in over 100 cities in Iran in the past two days alone.
On 5th March 2019, sugar beet workers in Naqadeh in West Azerbaijan province, Iran, held an assembly in front of the sugar factory and protested against non-payment of their wages.
On 5th and 6th March 2019, staff of Imam Khomeini Hospital in Karaj, Tehran, held assemblies in front of the governor’s office of Alborz and protested against non-payment of their wages and the financial crisis that has been imposed on them. The workers have been protesting for a long time about the situation. The hospital staff has been left without wages for over a year and the future of the institution became unclear after its sale to a private owner.
On 5th March 2019, a group of retirees gathered in front of the offices of the Guardian Council of the Islamic Republic and protested against poverty and their pensions that are below the poverty line. The retirees demanded answers to their long-standing demands. One of the slogans they chanted was: “Astronomical wages for a few and misery for the rest”.
On 6th March 2019, municipality workers of Section 1 in Ahvaz in Khuzestan province held their 3rd day of strike and protested against non-payment of their wages. Workers of other sections have also been going on strike over non-payment of wages.
On 6th March 2019, firefighters of several fire stations in Abadan in Khuzestan province gathered at the city’s municipality and protested against non-payment of their wages. The firefighters haven’t been paid for two months and haven’t received any overtime payments for some months before that. Firefighters in Khuzestan have been protesting against non-payment of several months of wages and one year’s worth of their bonuses. In some stations, the firefighters don’t have essential equipment such as fire retardant clothing.
On 7th March 2019, oil workers of Section 14 of Asaluyeh Special Economic Zone in Kangan in Bushehr province went on strike and protested against non-payment of their wages.
On 7th March 2019, teachers and retirees in several cities in Iran held assemblies in front of the Ministry of Education to protest against poverty, inequality, oppression and for their demands. The protests in Adrebil, Urmia, Mashhad, Shiraz, Hamedan, Qazvin and Kermanshah come right after the 3-day national strike of teachers that took place in over 100 cities.
Tweet: Iran: workers continue with strikes and protests as the regime sentences workers’ leader Jafar Azimzadeh to 30 lashes #WPIranNews #FightForLife #StrikingWorkersInIran #NonPaymentOfWages #JailedWorkers
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