HRANA Recap: This Week’s Protests in Iran

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, a number of protests took place this week in Iran, many of which were continuations of ongoing movements.  Read our recap below for details, photos, and videos from the demonstrations.

Saturday, November 6

Several workers working on the Shafa Rud dam assembled at their workplace to protest against job uncertainty and a months-long delay in payment. As one of these workers stated, they have not received wages in six months.  About 900 workers who are working on this dam have been suspended from work due to the company’s financial problems.

A group of personnel of the Islamic Azad University in Mahshahr City protested their wages
by spreading empty tablecloths as a sign of their hard livelihood conditions. One
stated that they have long been denied payment under the pretext of a funding shortage.

A group of retirees of Haft-Tappeh Complex protested in front of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare Office in Shush city. They stated that their pension income has not been fully paid in accordance with Social Security Act.

A number of farmers in Bavi County assembled in front of the building of the company Karun-e-Bozorg, an operation and maintenance of Irrigation and Drainage Networks, to ask for their water portion for wheat cultivation. They also protested against the cut in the water supply for their gardens.

A group of workers of Kerman Coal Mining Company went on strike and assembled at their workplace to protest against assigning the stock management to the company Dalahu Tejarat. They will oppose any changes in stock management until they have taken formal employment with the company.

The workers of Iran-Khodro in Tabriz went on strike at work to demand delayed payments and benefits.

Sunday, November 7

A number of retirees and pensioners of the Khuzestan Social Security Organization protested in front of the building of the organization in Ahvaz city. They asked for levelling up pensions to stand above the poverty line, closing the disparity in pension incomes, enforcing article 96 of the Social Security Act, solving issues regarding supplementary insurance, paying end-of-year bonuses and factoring in employment history in hazardous jobs for calculating pension income.

A group of designers and supervising engineers assembled in front of the Iran Ministry of Roads & Urban Development to protest the enactment of new regulations and procedures which, as the protestors claim, would be devastating for companies in this sector.

Retirees and pensioners of Fulad Steel Company assembled in front of the company’s pension fund departments in Isfahan and Ahvaz. They asked that their pensions be raised above the poverty line, closing the disparity in pension incomes and addressing supplementary insurance issues.

A group of personnel of the Social Security Organization assembled in front of the parliament in Tehran. They demanded implementation of the Hard and Hazardous Jobs Act, which requires that military service periods and job hardship records be taken into account when raising wages.

A number of victims of the financial fraud of the cryptocurrency exchange “Cryptoland” assembled in front of the Judiciary Building and demanded their lost money.

A number of depositors who has lost their investment through Caspian institution assembled and protested in front of the building of the Central Bank in Tehran.

Monday, November 8

A number of retirees of Haft-Tappeh Company who went into a pension in 2020 assembled in front of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social welfare office in Shush city. They claimed that their pension income has been accounted for less than what the social security act requires.

In Tehran, a group of citizens who had pre-ordered cars from Ramak Khodro Company assembled in front of the Tehran Courthouse to ask for a demand accountability from the company, which has failed to deliver their cars after four years.

Dozens of citizens from Lorestan County in Fars province traveled to Tehran and assembled in front of the building of the Iran Ministry of Roads & Urban Development. They asked for maintenance of the unsafe and poor conditions of the road connecting Jahrom to Bandar-e Abbas. This road is still not two-lane, which has caused many fatal car accidents in recent weeks.

In Isfahan, a group of farmers assembled in front of the headquarter of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. Moreover, several other farmers marched in the streets of this city. They protested against not receiving their water portion for the fall wheat crop planting.

In Tabriz, the workers of SEMET Company assembled in protest in front of the company manager’s office.

In Kerman, a number of workers of Kerman coal company assembled in front of the office of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour, and Social Welfare to protest against the privatization of the company.

Tuesday, November 9

Dozens of retired teachers and educators who have been on pension since 2020 assembled in front of the building of the Planning and Budget Organization in Tehran. They demanded payment of their pension bonuses. The protest turned violent by police interference.

A group of livestock farmers in the Toroq area in Mashhad assembled to protest against the demolition of several animal farms.

For the second consecutive day, in Isfahan, farmers assembled in front of the building of the Regional Water Company and marched in the streets.

Wednesday, November 10

For the third consecutive day, in Isfahan, a number of farmers assembled in the dried up stretches of the river Zayandeh-rud to ask for their water portion. In response, the member parliament Abas Moghtadai promised that to address their issue, along with other Isfahan members of parliament, he would have a meeting with the president.

A number of landowners in Astalak Pardis protested in front of the building of the Tehran Ministry of Roads & Urban Development. They claimed that their lands have been confiscated by the company Omran-Pardis.

In Khorasan province, a group of Iran-Khodro workers went on a strike to protest against forced overwork and ask for raising wages.

For the second consecutive day, to ask for addressing their work issues, a group of preschool educators assembled and spent the night in front of the building governorate building.

Thursday, November 11

In response to the call of the Coordinating Council of Iranian teacher Unions, both retired and working teachers in 67 cities across the country assembled and protested. As their most important demand, they asked for the implementation of the Ranking Income Bill, whereby the salaries of teachers should be raised to at least 80% of university board members’ salaries.

On the same day of nationwide teachers’ protest, in Isfahan, the school concierges and service workers assembled in the front of the building of the Department of Education to ask for their demands.

For the third consecutive day, in Isfahan, the farmers assembled in the dried up stretches of the river Zayandeh-rud.

Aliyeh Motallebzadeh’s Request for Release on Probation Rejected

Aliyeh Motallebzadeh’s request for release on probation was recently rejected in a written notification by the Tehran prosecutor’s office.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, the photographer and women’s rights activist is currently enduring a two-year sentence in Evin Prison in Tehran.

On November 26, 2016, Motallebzadeh was summoned to the office of the ministry of intelligence and subsequently was detained in Ward 209 of Evin Prison. On December 19, 2016, she was released on bail of 300 million tomans.

In 2017, the Revolutionary Court of Tehran sentenced Motallebzadeh to three years in prison on charges of  “assembly and collusion to act against national security” and “propaganda against the regime”.

This verdict was upheld by Branch 36 of the court of Appeals in Tehran. In the issued lawsuit, “launching and participating in women empowerment workshop in abroad” had been invoked as an example of these charges. Grounded on Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, a severest punishment of two years was enforceable for her.

On October 11, 2020, Motallebzadeh arrived at Evin prison to begin her sentence, where she has been held since.

On April 26, 2021, she was punitively deprived of making phone calls after her complaints about the practice of holding detainees in solitary confinements in the prosecutor’s office of this prison.

On July 19, 2021, after contracting COVID, she was granted furlough and went on leave until August 30.

Aliyeh Motallebzadeh is a photographer, women rights activist and a member of the One Million Signatures Campaign for Gender Equality as well as a campaign to protect acid attack victims.

 

Omar Sharifi Bukani Arrested in Tehran and Transferred to Unknown Location

On Thursday, November 11, security forces arrested Tehran resident Omar Sharifi Bukani and then transferred him to an unidentified location.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, quoting Kurdpa, security forces arrested 70-year-old Sharifi Bukani without a warrant at his home in Tehran.

Mr. Sharifi Bukani was reportedly arrested once previously, in 1992, on a charge of “membership in one of the opposition political parties” and then sentenced to seven years in prison by the Revolutionary Court of Mahabad City. He was released in 1998 after serving out his sentence in Urmia Prison.

The reasons for yesterday’s arrest, along with Mr. Sharifi Bukani’s current whereabouts, are unknown as of this writing.

The Uprising of the Thirsty; An Analysis of the 2021 Khuzestan Protests

The July 2021 Iranian protests were a continuation of protests that have been erupting sporadically since 2016.

The driving force behind the July/August uprising was to protest the perennial water shortages and rolling blackouts stemming from mismanagement of resources, fueling public anger. The latest round of protests erupted on 15 July, starting in Khuzestan soon spreading to other provinces including Isfahan, Lorestan, Eastern Azerbaijan, Tehran, and Karaj. These protests have been coined the ‘Uprising of the Thirsty’.

As nearly 5 million Iranians in Khuzestan are lacking access to clean drinking water, Iran is failing to respect, protect, and fulfill the right to water, which is inextricably linked to the right to the highest attainable standard of health; both are protected by the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESR), to which Iran is a signatory. It is a common cause that Iran’s water crisis has reached a critical point. Even the regime’s state-run media have acknowledged the dire situation, with at least 700 villages out of water.

According to the state-run Aftab News on July 4, 2021, “Of Iran’s population of 85 million, about 28 million live in areas with water shortages and are under pressure in this regard, mainly in the central and southern regions of the country. Water shortages have affected all sections of society, from urban households to agricultural and rural communities.”

It did not take long for the protests to take on a political character, with protesters in various cities calling for the end of the current regime and expanding the subject matter of their protests from water shortages to deteriorating living conditions.

One protester told HRA, “My ideal outcome is to see a regime official resign in response to our suffering. We are tired of all of this misery, poverty, dehydration, neglect, lies, and empty promises.”

A protester living in Tehran told HRA, “Besides supporting [the people of] Khuzestan, we are protesting unemployment, high prices, poverty, and the existing problems in the country. We can no longer bear the hardships of life created by unworthy officials. The authorities must address the problems…”

In the two weeks of the uprising, Human Rights Activists (HRA) verified 129 videos documenting the protests, 361 arrests, 6 deaths, and several more wounded. HRA’s Spreading Justice team (HRA-SJ) additionally identified individual violators associated with the violent crackdown. The following report analyses the events that occurred as a result of the uprising, those responsible, and concludes with a call for accountability noting that without action, this cycle of abuse will only continue.

Read the full report here.

_________________________

For further inquiries please contact Skylar Thompson, Senior Advocacy Coordinator Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA) at [email protected]

HRANA Recap: This Week’s Protests in Iran

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, a number of protests took place this week in Iran, many of which were continuations of ongoing movements.  Read our recap below for details, photos, and videos from the demonstrations.

 

Saturday, October 30

The workers of Abadan Petrochemical Company assembled at the company premises to demand the right to form an Islamic Workers’ Council, as the labor code allows, the adjustment of their contracts according to their job classification plans, job security, preservation of the dignity of workers and an end to punitive measures towards employees who advocate for their rights.

A number of workers of the Golnar Vegetable Oil Factory protested at the company premises.  As well as fostering a number of other internal problems, the factory employer reportedly has been announcing temporary business closure each month, and sending about 300 workers on compulsory leave.

Dozens of teachers and educators from various cities came to Tehran on Saturday and and assembled in front of Parliament. They asked for implementation of the Ranking Income Bill, whereby the salaries of teachers must be raised to at least 80% of university board members’ salaries. They also demanded the fortification of pension funds, in adherence with Civil Service Management Law.

 

In Bandar Mahshahr, the workers of Razi Petrochemical Company went on strike for several consecutive days. They assembled in front of the company headquarters and demanded bonuses and benefits, improvement in the quality of meals, implementation of the Jobs Classification Plan, and supplementary health insurance.

The concierges and service workers of schools assembled in front of Parliament in Tehran and protested poor living conditions and low wages.

A number of residents of the village Shahr-e Kohneh in Neyshabur County protested infrastructural negligence, particularly in regard to road maintenence. Residents currently have to travel a long distance to reach an unsafe underpass in order to cross the railway.



A number of residents of Mahabad City in Isfahan assembled in the dried up stretches of the river Taherabad and protested water withdrawal from this river for the usage of the Fulad Natanz factory. Moreover, reportedly, as a result of this water withdrawal a 3000-year-old Qanat has been dried up.

 

In Tehran, A number of lawyers of the judiciary assembled in front of the building of the Iran Bar Association to show their opposition to enactment of a plan whereby the issuance of some business licenses will be facilitated.

A group of specialized hospital assistants of Imam Hossein Hospital went on a strike at their workplace in protest against their poor living conditions.

About 40 workers of Kayson Company stopped working and went on a strike to ask for their demands, including the payment of wages that have been delayed by three months.

Sunday, October 31

A number of retirees and pensioners of the Iran Social Security Organization assembled in front of their local units in various cities such as Tehran, Mashhad, Ahvaz, Kermanshah, Rasht and Tabriz. They asked for a pension above the poverty line, implementation of article 96 of the Social Security Acts, closing the disparity in pension incomes, end-year bonuses and factoring in employment history in hazardous jobs when calculating pension income.

 

Service workers of Tehran Metro on Line 2 assembled to protest the three-month delay in their wages. Moreover, they have not received end of year bonuses for two years and the employer’s insurance contribution has also been delayed.

 

For a second consecutive day,  workers of the vegetable oil factory Golnar assembled at the factory premises to demand action.

“After two days of protests, no one from the company responds to us,” one of these workers stated. “Since the privatization of the factory, in recent years, there have raised many conflicts between the company and the workers including compulsory unpaid leaves, the deduction of leave from the salary, reducing in production, imposing one-month contracts and continuous two-week night work, and the most important, threatening workers to be fired.”

For the second consecutive day, a group of workers of Abadan Petrochemical Company (TAPPICO) assembled at the company premises to ask for the implementation of the Job Classification plan. They also protested against the layoffs of four fellow workers.

 

In Qazvin, the garden maintenance workers of Rojan Dasht Caspian went on strike to demand their wages, which have been delayed by 4 months.

 

Workers of Arak Machine Manufacturing Factory assembled and protested at the company premises. They demanded increased wages in accordance with inflation and real living costs.

 

A group of the retirees of Telecommunication Company of Iran assembled at premises of the building of the finance department of the company to ask for their demands.

A number of farmers from Shush and Shushtar assembled in front of their government buildings to protest rice exports outside the province.

Monday, November 1

Judiciary personnell assembled in front of the Justice building of various cities across the country including Tehran, Mashhad, Shush, Yazd, Zanjan, Farahan, Ray Shahr, Kuhrang, Neyshabur, Meybod, Gorgan, Azadshahr, Sanandaj, Ahvaz, Elam, Arak, Divandareh, Paveh, Damavand, Kasmar, Tafresh, Boroujen. They protested against poor living conditions and inattention to their demands.

A number of the workers in the lead and zinc mine in Gojar in Kerman Province assembled in front of the building of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour and Social welfare in Kerman to demand increased wages.

A number of workers of Kut-e Abdollah Municipality assembled in front of the building of the Islamic Council in this city. They protested unpaid wages and unpaid employers’ contributions to health insurance.

A group of citizens in Tehran assembled in front of the building of the Securities and Exchange Organization to protest capital market collapse and demanded that measures be taken to protect people’s investments.

Workers of the Razi petrochemical company went on a strike at their workplace in Bandar Mahshah. They asked for benefits and bonuses in accordance with workplace conditions, improvment in the quality of meals, implementation of the Job classification plan, and supplementary insurance.

Tuesday, November 2

A group of personnel and board members of Islamic Azad University of Shushtar City assembled on campus to protest unpaid wages.

 

The residents of the town “Poshte Bagh-e Parandgan” in Astara County assembled in front of the building of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development office to protest against the decision to demolish a number of local residential complexes.

Personnel of the Regional Telecommunication Company of Eastern Azerbaijan Province assembled inside the company headquarters and in front of the management office.

A number of people who have not received their pre-ordered cars from Azvico Company (Azerbaijan Vehicle Industry) assembled in front of the office of the Head of the Judiciary .

 

 

Residents of the village Malek-Abad in Arak County protested the unlawful confiscation of their pieces of land by semi-government Awqaf and Charity Affairs Organizations. A few days prior, they had blocked the road from Arak to Qom City as a demonstration of protest.

 

A group of transport service drivers of the hospital Shahid Mohammadi went on a strike to protest poor living conditions and low wages.

 

Workers of Arak Machine Manufacturing Factory assembled at the company premises and went on strike.

Wednesday, November 3

Victims of the financial fraud of the cryptocurrency exchange “Cryptoland” assembled in front of the Tehran Courthouse this Wednesday and demanded that their complaints be addressed and their money returned.

A number of workers of Kut-e Abdollah Municipality assembled in front of the building of the Islamic Council in this city. Reportedly, 400 workers have not been fully paid since July.

A number of people with hearing impairment in Mariwan assembled in front of the State Welfare Organization building to protest poor living conditions and unemployment. They asked for enforcing the Comprehensive Law on Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

 

A group of shareholders who lost money due to fraudulent transactions in the Tehran stock exchange assembled in front of the Tehran Courthouse in protest.

 

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Political Prisoner Kamran Rezaiefar Sentenced to Death by Revolutionary Court of Tehran

Recently, Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran sentenced political prisoner Kamran Rezaiefar to death. Rezaiefar’s trial began on December 28, 2020.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, political prisoner Kamran Rezaiefar has been sentenced to death on the charge of the so-called “spreading corruption on earth”. He was notified about his charges in September of this year.

In January 2020, Kamran Rezaiefar was arrested by the security forces on a charge of “association with The People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (MEK)”. He was released on bail after enduring 77 days in solitary confinement in wards 240 and 209 of Evin Prison.

In June 2020, he was arrested again this time for a charge of “spreading corruption on earth” and transferred to Evin Prison.

 

Arash Gangi Detained and Sent to Evin Prison to Endure 11 Year Sentence

On Monday, November 1, translator and board member of the Iranian Writers’ Association (IWA) Arash Gangi was sent to Evin Prison to endure his 11-year sentence.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, recently, PEN America in a statement condemned Arash Gangi’s summons and asked for the quashing of this “wildly disproportionate” sentence.

Gangi had been previously sentenced to eleven years in prison by Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran. Grounded on Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, a severest punishment of five years is enforceable.

Following the summons he received on October 16 of this year, Arash Gangi appeared at the Executive Unit of Evin prison and from there he was sent to Evin Prison.

On December 22, 2019, the security forces raided his house, and then arrested and transferred him to Ward 209 of Evin Prison, which is at the disposal of the intelligence ministry.  Security agents searched his house and confiscated some of his personal belongings during the arrest.

After a while, he was transferred from the Ward 209 to the public section of Evin Prison. On January 19, 2020, he was released on a bail of 450 million tomans until the end of legal proceedings.

In the first court session, on June 14, 2020, the judge increased the bail to 3 billion tomans, and hence he was arrested and transferred to Evin Prison until providing the new bail. He was released on bail on June 21, 2020.

In the second court session, which took place on November 29, 2020, only his attorney attended the court and Mr Ganji could not appear at the court due to having COVID-19 symptoms.

Ultimately, in December 2020, the court, headed by judge Mohammad-Reza Amoozad, sentenced Gangi to five years in prison on a charge of “assembly and collusion in purpose to act against national security”, one year on a charge of “propaganda against the regime” and five years on a charge of “membership in and collaboration with one of the ant-regime groups.”, for a total of 11 years imprisonment. In February 2021, this verdict was upheld by the court of appeals of Tehran.

According to Naser Zarafshan, Mr. Gangi’s lawyer, all these charges were invoked from his translation of a book under the title of “A Small Key Can Open A Big Door: The Rojava Revolution”, which is about Kurdistan upheavals in Syria.

The non-governmental organization IWA was founded by a group of intellectual writers in 1968, originally with the objective of promoting freedom of speech and fighting against censorship.

Although IWA was banned in 1981 by the Iranian authorities, a group of writers created a “consulting assembly” to revive the banned IWA in 1993. On September 8, 1996, 12 writers who had gathered to draft a new charter for the IWA were arrested, interrogated and warned not to hold further meetings for the advancement of the IWA. Since then, the members and board members of IWA have been subject to systematic persecution, long prison sentences and even targeted killing from 1988–98, when certain Iranian dissident intellectuals who had been critical of the Islamic Republic disappeared and their bodies found afterwards.

Political Prisoner Saeed Sangar Released After 21 Years in Prison

On Saturday, October 30, political prisoner Saeed Sangar was released on parole from Urmia Prison.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, Sangar’s release comes after 21 years of imprisonment.

On August 31, 2000, Sangar was arrested. However, in his legal case, October 29 of that year has been wrongly recorded as the arrest date.

On November 18, 2000, the Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj, headed by judge Fatemi, sentenced him to death on the charge of “enmity against God (Moharebeh) through membership in The People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran”. Following this conviction, Sangar was transferred from the detention center of the ministry of intelligence in Sanandaj to ward 209 of Evin Prison in Tehran, where he was held in solitary confinement cells until 2003. In the fall of 2003, the appellate court changed the verdict to life imprisonment and sent him to Urmia Prison.

Years later, on December 23, 2016, the executive branch No. 4 of the Department of Justice in Sanandaj reduced the verdict to 18 years imprisonment.

In 2017, a new case was opened against him for the charge of “propaganda against the regime”  of which, however, he was later acquitted.

Despite that by December of 2020, not only he had served out two years more than his 18-years sentence, he was sentenced again to 11 months imprisonment sentence on the charge of ” propaganda against the regime and in favor of dissident groups against the regime”. This sentence was reduced to eight months, which led to his final release this Saturday, October 30.

Ahmadreza Haeri Summoned to the Cybercrime Court of Tehran

Following a complaint from the Prisons and Security and Corrective Measures Organization of Tehran Province (PSCMO), former political prisoner Ahmadreza Haeri was recently summoned to the Cybercrime Court of Tehran.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, this Friday, October 29, Haeri was summoned on charges of “spreading lies, accusative, insulting and slanderous words”.

One month after the incident known as “Black Thursday of Evin Prison”, when dozens of political prisoners in Evin Prison were beaten brutally by security agents in Ward 350 of Evin prison, Ahmadreza Haeri was sentenced to 42 months in prison by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, headed by Judge Salavati.

This initial verdict was upheld by Branch 36 of the appellate court. However, following his lawyer’s objection, the verdict was revoked and this time the case was undertaken by Branch 54 of the court of appeals which sentenced him to six months in prison and 74 lashes.

On July 25, 2020, Haeri endured the flogging by the Intelligence and Public Security Police of NAJA and then was sent to the Greater Tehran prison to serve his six-month sentence. On October 8, 2020, he was released on probation from the Greater Tehran prison.

In this new subpoena from the Cybercrime Court of Tehran, Haeri was instructed to appear there within five days.

Political Prisoner Injured After Protest by Self-Immolation in Evin Prison

On Wednesday, October 27, political prisoner Mehdi Darini was injured by self-immolation and hospitalized in the healthcare center of Evin Prison.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, Darini’s demonstration was in protest of prison authorities’ refusal to release him on probation. He is currently enduring the second year of a five year term in Evin Prison in Tehran.

An informed source told HRANA that Darini had previously warned prison officials about his intentions if the interrogator refused to consider his demand to be released.

During the last interrogation, in response to his stating his intention to go on a hunger strike, the interrogator reportedly said, “All the better; the regime has already too many hungry mouths to feed.”

35-year-old Mehdi Darini, a production engineer, was sentenced to five years in prison by the Revolutionary Court of Tehran on a charge of ” blasphemy” and one year on a charge of “propaganda against the regime”. According to Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, a severest punishment of five years is enforceable.