A Daily Overview of Human Rights Violations in Iran for December 22, 2018

The following is an overview of human rights violations in Iran on December 22nd, 2018 based on the information compiled and verified by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

(1) More than seven protests were organized in Iran. Abadan municipality workers, Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Agro-Industry Company workers, more than 100 workers of Cement Plant Manufacturer, workers of Tehran and Suburb Bus Driver Company, students in Zahedan, the students of Sistan and Baluchestan University, and the workers of Ahvaz Intercity Railroad Corporation requested their demands in separate protests.

(2) A ranger was severely injured in a fight against poachers in Gilan-e Gharb, a city in Kermanshah province.

(3) A businessman, Hamid Reza Bagheri Dermani, also known as the Sultan of Bitumen, was executed on December 21, 2018. He was accused of ‘Spreading corruption on Earth’, fraud, bribery, and embezzlement.

(4) A labor activist, Khalil Karimi, was sentenced to one-year imprisonment in the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court. He was charged with ‘propaganda against the State’, participating in the International Labor Day, and taking part in the International Campaign of No to Execution in Iran.

(5) Saber Naderi was arrested and transferred to Sanandaj prison on December 19 to begin serving his Sentence. He faced four years in prison on charge of ‘acting against national security’.

(6) More than 130 thousand 5-11-year-old children are deprived from going to school in the school year of 2018-2019. Moreover, 30% of them belong to Sistan and Baluchestan which has the highest rate among provinces.

(7) In the last six months, 130 convicts received alternative sentences in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province . These sentences included public service, purchasing books, counseling, and fines.

(8) More than 35 workers of Tabriz Bearing Manufacturer have four months unpaid wages. Tabriz is the city of East Azerbaijan Province.

(9) In the last few days, 20 workers of the Iran National Steel Industrial Group were released on Bail. The released workers are Seyed Habib Tabatabaei, Javad Gholami, Mohsen Baloti, Mehdi Tahmasebi, Kourosh Esmaeili, Ali Emami, Abdolreza Dasti, Sohrab Naami, Hossein Asakereh, Fariborz Sheikh Robat, Seyed Ali Javadpour. At least 43 workers were arrested on December 19.

(10) Vahid Jahangiri who has been accused of murder in 2011, was executed in Isfahan on December 17. Another prisoner who was accused of murdering a five-year-old girl, Melika, was executed on December 21, 2018 in Falavarjan. And finally, a prisoner charged with murder who was held in Tehran prison was saved from death with forgiveness and consent of the next of kin at the gallows.

(11) Mohammad Khakpour, an Azerbaijani Turkic minority rights activist, was arraigned to the Ardabil Revolutionary Court.

(12) Three construction workers were injured due to an unsafe workplace in Hajiabad city in the Hormozgan province.