Follow-up on the Whipping of 17 Workers in Parliament

The local website "Anaj" has reported that 10 members of parliament have signed a proposal for an investigation into the whipping of workers from the "Agh Dareh" mine in Takab city. This website published the full text of the proposal, which consists of eight sections, on Wednesday (June 22). It stated that this proposal was prepared based on Article 214 of the internal regulations of the parliament. The investigation will cover the causes of "dismissal and unemployment of workers," "causes of conflicts," "the process of complaints by employers and workers," and "the manner of police interaction with workers." Other provisions of the proposal include examining the judicial process regarding complaints against workers, the outcomes of issued verdicts, and the role of the Takab governorate and the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare in the city. The proposal also focuses on "the implementation of sentences issued regarding the whipping of workers" and "the compliance of officials' actions with existing laws on this matter." Notable signatories of this proposal include Nader Qazipour, Alireza Mahjoub, Soheila Jelodarzadeh, Jahanbakhsh Mohbiniya, Shahab Nadri, Mohammad Hossein Farhangi, and Homayoun Hashemi. In late May of this year, 17 dismissed workers from the Agh Dareh gold mine in West Azerbaijan province were whipped between 30 to 100 times, which has led to widespread protests. The charges against these 17 workers included "preventing and obstructing people from conducting business," "insulting the company's guard," "damaging clothing and illegal detention of the guard." Protests against the implementation of this sentence have continued for over two months, with four labor organizations recently issuing a joint statement in late June protesting the issuance and execution of such a ruling. The protesting labor organizations include the Trade Association of Chador Malu Workers, the Trade Association of Construction Workers in Marivan, the Trade Association of Bakery Workers in Sanandaj and its suburbs, and the Trade Association of Bakery Workers in Marivan and Sarvabad. These organizations have called for the removal of security charges against labor activists and described the implementation of whipping sentences against workers as "oppressive." Previously, some labor organizations had expressed regret and condemned the whipping sentence for the dismissed workers of the Agh Dareh mine. Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, the government spokesman and head of the Management and Planning Organization, also expressed regret over the news of the whipping of 17 workers. According to reports from official and local media, workers in Iran have been staging numerous protests across the country over delayed wages and benefits, which in some cases have led to their arrests. In late June, more than 20 municipal workers in Khuzestan protested against unpaid wage benefits, leading to their arrest and subsequent release after a few days on bail.