10 Sugarcane Workers from Haft Tappeh Detained Following Private Employer's Complaint

Reports from Iran indicate that several workers from the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company were detained by law enforcement on Saturday, April 1. Previously, five workers had been arrested on Thursday. According to the Free Workers Union of Iran, the detention of 10 workers on Saturday was due to a complaint filed by the private employer of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company, which has owned this agricultural and industrial complex since March 2016. The Free Workers Union of Iran had previously reported that summonses had been sent to 20 workers of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company by law enforcement. Based on these summonses, the workers were required to appear at the Shush Prosecutor's Office on Saturday. Reports indicate that these 20 workers went to the prosecutor's office on Saturday morning but were told that 'the prosecutor's office is closed.' However, according to the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Workers' Syndicate, the prosecutor arrived at the courthouse at 11 AM on Saturday and issued arrest warrants for these workers, after which law enforcement officers detained several of them either on the company premises or at their homes. Among those detained are Hassan Fazeli, Foad Badavi, Sajid Al-Katir, Hassan Al-Katir, Mohammad Khenifar, Saeed Mansouri, Habib Chenani, Jassem Hamdani, Mehdi Thaemi, and Chasib Hamdani. So far, judicial and law enforcement officials have not commented on these reports. Last Thursday, there were also reports of the arrest of five workers in front of the Shush governor's office, which local officials did not respond to. Previously, Rahim Basak and Ghorban Alipour, board members of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Syndicate, and Karamat Pam and Ismail Bakhti, activists of this syndicate, were summoned and tried on March 18 on charges of 'participating in strikes.' In this context, the Free Workers Union of Iran issued a statement on Saturday condemning the detention of 10 Haft Tappeh Sugarcane workers and calling for 'public attention and the involvement of international labor organizations to the systematic repression and imposition of medieval slavery on thousands of workers at the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company.' This independent labor organization also demanded 'immediate and unconditional attention' to the workers' demands and the removal of the owner of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company, holding the government of Hassan Rouhani and the officials of Khuzestan province as 'the main cause of all the miseries' imposed on the workers and their families. The detention of Haft Tappeh Sugarcane workers in recent days followed comments made by Abdolhasan Al-Katir, the deputy governor of Shush, who said on Thursday in front of protesting workers that some who are not Haft Tappeh workers are inciting them. In response, the workers stated that the private employer had not fulfilled their commitments and oath to pay their demands. The workers are demanding payment for their wages for March, bonuses, and end-of-year rewards. Additionally, the wages for some of them for February have not been paid. Meanwhile, during their protest on Thursday, the workers objected to the closure of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company. The private employer announced the closure of the complex on April 8, citing 'determining the situation and establishing security' as the reason. Following this, law enforcement sent summonses to several workers of this company on Thursday. This situation led to the continuation of the workers' strike, which had begun in protest against the news of agricultural land being transferred to contracting companies and the dismissal of informal agricultural workers. In this context, according to ILNA news agency, Adnan Ghazi, the governor of Shush, stated on Saturday that the decision to close the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company was 'temporary and aimed at preventing labor strikes and some potential problems.' He also announced that the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company would resume its activities on Sunday, April 2. This official also stated that the managers of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company had promised that the employees' demands would be paid by June 1 of this year. Meanwhile, according to the state news agency IRNA, Omid Asadbik, the private employer of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company, stated that 'with the presence of irrigation workers in the sugarcane fields, irrigation work has resumed since Saturday morning.' Previously, he had repeatedly emphasized the payment of workers' demands within a specified timeframe, which had not been fulfilled, leading to workers' protests. At least five thousand formal and informal workers are employed in this company.