Seventeen workers of Iran National Steel Industrial Group have been sentenced to flogging and imprisonment by the judicial system of the Iranian regime due to their protests against economic conditions. According to the state-run ILNA news agency on September 27, the revolutionary court in Ahvaz issued these sentences based on a report from the State Security Forces and a complaint filed by “Shafagh Rahian Axin Industrial and Commercial Company S.R.O.,” the employer of Iran’s Steel Company, and the company’s security.
ILNA published the names of these protesting workers and stated that they were charged with “disturbing public order through creating turmoil and commotion” during last year’s protests.
The court found them guilty and sentenced each of them to “paying a fine of 25 million rials (approximately $50) to the government treasury instead of three months of disciplinary imprisonment, and receiving 74 lashes.”
These workers had protested against the management of the company and their own legal situation in 2022. Iran’s Steel Company is one of the economic entities owned by Amir Mansour Aria Investment Group. After the judicial investigation of a 30 trillion rials (approximately $60 million) embezzlement case, the temporary management of the company was handed over to the judiciary and later to the Central Bank.
The conviction of these workers comes at a time when workers across the country have repeatedly protested against their living conditions and the management of relevant companies.
The workers of Iran’s Steel Company have also engaged in numerous protest gatherings and strikes in the past, and they have often been targeted by security forces.
In December 2020, Davoud Rafiei, a worker who protested against his dismissal from Pars Khodro Company, received 74 lashes on the charge of “insulting” the Minister of Labor.
In another case in June of the same year, Rouhollah Barzin, a bakery worker in the city of Choram, received 55 lashes for publishing critical content on social media.
Rasoul Taleb Moghadam, a member of the Bus company’s labor union who had been sentenced to two years in prison in June 2020, received 74 lashes and was sent to prison.
Prior to that, in January 2015, 17 protesting workers in West Azerbaijan were sentenced to 30 to 100 lashes on various charges.
The judicial authorities of the regime have defended the issuance of flogging sentences against workers in some of these cases, which has faced strong protests from trade unions and workers’ supporters.
Furthermore, in recent years, the judicial system of the Iranian regime has arrested a large number of labor activists and imprisoned them on political charges.
