At Least 31 Steel Workers in Ahvaz Arrested Amid Ongoing Protests

According to reports, security forces arrested at least 29 workers from the National Steel Company of Ahvaz at 2 AM on Monday. Meanwhile, the protest gathering of the company's workers continued on Monday, with 2 more individuals arrested during the demonstration against the detentions. The Free Workers' Union announced that agents visited the homes of several other workers, but they were not at home. The identities of 31 detainees have been confirmed so far. However, there is no precise information on the exact number of detainees, and the number may increase. Some protesting workers told the Iranian Labor News Agency, ILNA, that 'Bagheri, the operations officer of the IRGC in Khuzestan province, addressed the protesting workers, inviting them to remain calm, and stated that detainees who are from the worker base would be released by the end of today, December 26.' The presence of the IRGC official at the scene and his response regarding these arrests may indicate that the detentions were carried out by IRGC agents. Reports indicate that the identities of the 31 detainees from last night to today are as follows: 'Meisam Ali Ghavani, Eisa Marai, Amin Alvani, Morteza Akbariyan, Tarek Khalafi, Masoud Afri, Jafar Sobhani, Mostafa Abiyat, Gharib Hoveyzavi, Hossein Davoodi, Karim Sayahi, Hamed Basari, Hafez Kanani, Hamed Joudaki, Kazem Heydari, Yaser Ebrahimi, Majid Janadeleh, Kourosh Esmaeili, Ali Aghba, Mohsen Balooti, Mohammad Pour Hassan, Mohsen Behbehani, Seyed Habib Tabatabai, Jassem Roumzi, Ali Etamami, Seyed Ali Javadpour, Javad Gholami, Abdolreza Dasti, Seyed Ahmad Seyednoor, Fariborz Sheikh Rabat, and Ehsan Yousefi.' Kasra Ghafouri, the CEO of the National Steel Group of Iran, also confirmed the arrest of several workers from this company in an interview with ILNA. According to the Free Workers' Union, individuals were also arrested during a gathering held by a group of workers from the National Industrial Group of Ahvaz for the release of their detained colleagues in front of this institution. However, the protest of the workers continued on Monday. According to reports from the Telegram channel of the Free Workers' Union, special forces, plainclothes agents, and IRGC members have been stationed in front of the governorate and the judiciary of Khuzestan. Workers of the National Steel Company of Ahvaz have been continuously protesting for about 40 days due to the failure of officials to fulfill their promises regarding the payment of wages and arrears in front of various government institutions in Khuzestan province. 'Payment of overdue wages,' 'resumption of production and supply of raw materials,' 'establishment of social and supplementary insurance,' and 'attention to the living conditions of workers' are among the demands of the workers of this complex. The National Bank owns the Ahvaz Steel Company. Meanwhile, some representatives of the protesting workers have threatened that if this bank does not fulfill its commitments to this factory, they will ask workers and people in Khuzestan to withdraw their deposits from this bank. Meanwhile, the Mehr News Agency reported on Saturday that the National Bank has not fulfilled its commitment to provide the necessary funds for the company's resumption, and only two out of seven production lines of the National Steel Group are active. Additionally, Karim Yavari, a representative of the Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare, has repeatedly stated that the National Bank has not fulfilled its commitments. He also mentioned on Sunday that the National Steel Group needs about 150 billion tomans in financial resources to resume operations, which is not a significant amount for the bank. Some workers have also threatened that if their demands are not met, they will continue their protests in Tehran.