Labour activists face lashes and fines
The Committee in Defense of Mahmoud Salehi and the Union of Dismissed and Unemployed Workers report that the appeal court in the city of Sanandaj has sentenced 11 workers who had participated in a May Day 2007 event to 10 lashes and 200,000 toman each as a financial penalty. These 11 workers, who were arrested on May Day 2007 celebration in Sanandaj city, were originally sentenced to 91 days in prison and 10 lashes each. They were accused of disturbing public order and participating in an illegal gathering by both civil and revolutionary courts of Sanandaj. Their names, who are mostly members of the Unemployed Union, are as follows: Khaled Savari, Eghbal Latifi, Yadullah Moradi, Tayeb Mollaee, Fars Goilian, Sadiq Amjadi, Habibollah Kalkani, Mohiuddin Rajabi, Tayeb Chatani, Sadiq Sobhani and Abbas Anadyari. Also Sheys Amani and Sediq Karimi, both members of the executive board of the Union of Dismissed and Unemployed Workers, have been sentenced to two and half years jail time but these charges have been appealed and no final decision has yet been made. The Union of Dismissed and Unemployed Workers will launch a complaint with the ILO and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) about all these cases, especially the whipping sentences.
On February 16, 2008, Sediq Amjadi was whipped and forced to pay 65,000 toman. He was supposed to pay 200,000 toman, but this amount was reduced because he had previously spent 9 days in jail.
On Monday, February 18, 2008, two other workers, Fars Goilian and Habibollah Kalkani, received 10 lashes and also paid financial penalties.
The court’s verdict is so appalling that many workers and organizations have strongly denounced and condemned it; legal experts and even some of the pro-government officials have expressed concerns with it. This is the first time that labour activists have been whipped following a court order, although some women’s right activists have received such sentences before. Labour, women and student activists have been beaten and brutally attacked, tortured and even executed by security forces in countless occasions in the past 30 years in Iran but this is the first time a court has passed and carried out whipping sentences against labour activists.
******************************************************************************
LabourStart
Act NOW!
Iran: Release jailed workers, respect rights
http://www.labourstart.org/iran
*****************************************************
[email protected] or [email protected].
International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran (IASWI)
http://www.etehadbinalmelali.com/INDEXI.htm