Prison and Whipping Sentences Issued for Workers at Another Mine in Iran

Nine workers from the Bafq iron ore mine in Yazd province have been sentenced to suspended prison terms and dozens of lashes. Mohammad Ali Jadari Foroughi, the lawyer representing these workers, told ILNA news agency that the workers were accused of 'disrupting order and preventing activity and production at the mine.' He also stated that according to a court ruling he received, his clients were acquitted of some serious charges, although he did not specify these charges. According to the report, Mohammad Hassan Tashakori, a city council member and one of the workers, was sentenced to 11 months in suspended prison and 50 lashes for five years, while the second accused received a four-month suspended prison sentence for five years. Jadari Foroughi also mentioned that seven other workers were each sentenced to seven months in suspended prison and 30 lashes for five years. The lawyer stated that despite the suspended nature of these sentences, he would appeal the rulings within the next 20 days. ILNA reported that he had previously expressed hope for his clients' acquittal, noting that the Bafq iron ore mining company had dropped its complaint, but the governor of Bafq claimed that the government had filed a complaint against them. These workers were arrested during a strike involving about five thousand workers at the Bafq iron ore mine, protesting the privatization of the company. The workers objected to the transfer of 28.5% of the mine's shares to Khuzestan Steel Company and insisted that the privatization process be halted. The strikers believed that privatization would lead to layoffs, particularly for those with temporary contracts, and wage reductions, as private employers seek to increase production at lower costs and higher profits. Other demands from the workers included changing the mine's CEO, implementing labor laws for hard and hazardous jobs, ensuring the establishment and funding of adjacent mineral processing and steel production plants, transferring 15% of the mine's shares to the people of Bafq, gas supply to the city, and dual-laning the Bafq-Yazd road. The strike continued due to the detention of nine workers until they were released, and government officials informed the workers that the privatization of the Bafq mine had been canceled and that 15% of the mine's shares would be transferred to Bafq County. However, these promises have not yet been fulfilled. The issuance of judicial sentences against the nine workers from Bafq in Yazd is the latest example of the issuance and enforcement of whipping sentences in Iran over the past few years. Previously, 17 dismissed workers from the Agh Dareh mine in Takab County, West Azerbaijan province, were sentenced to fines, prison, and 30 to 100 lashes on charges of disrupting public order, with the whipping sentences being carried out about three weeks ago. According to Tavakkol Heydari, the head of the judiciary in West Azerbaijan province, their prison sentences were pardoned by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. According to the judiciary-affiliated news agency Mizan, Heydari defended this ruling, accusing the whipped workers of being disruptors of public order and security. There has been widespread sentencing of lashes and imprisonment for labor activists. In Farvardin last year, five workers from the Chadormalu mine in Yazd were sentenced to one year in prison and lashes. According to ILNA, these workers, along with 25 others from the mine, were tried following labor protests based on the employer's complaint for 'disrupting order and preventing the rights of others.' These sentences were not enforced as the five workers had no criminal records, making their sentences convertible to five years of suspended imprisonment and a fine of three million rials each. However, the court stated that if the workers did not commit intentional crimes from the date of the ruling until the end of the suspension period, the suspended conviction would become ineffective; otherwise, in addition to the punishment for the recent crime, the suspended punishment would also be enforced. In Farvardin of the same year, two representatives of bakery workers in Sanandaj were sentenced to five months of prison and 30 lashes, which was converted to five years of suspended prison by the judge's favorable opinion. In Shahrivar 1393, the public court of Bandar Imam Khomeini sentenced four workers from Razi Petrochemical Company to six months in prison and 50 lashes. The court's ruling was issued following a complaint from the CEO of Razi Petrochemical against these workers for disrupting order. Nevertheless, according to ILNA, the court suspended their imprisonment and lashes for two years due to their lack of criminal records and marital status. However, whipping sentences against labor activists in Kurdistan province were enforced in 1387 and 1386. According to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Sousan Razani and Shiva Khairabadi, two labor activists who were arrested after participating in International Workers' Day ceremonies in Sanandaj, were whipped in Sanandaj Central Prison; Ms. Razani received 70 lashes and Ms. Khairabadi received 15 lashes. The year before, the revolutionary court of Sanandaj issued prison and whipping sentences for 13 workers and labor activists who were arrested during the International Workers' Day ceremony on May 1, and these sentences were enforced for some of the detainees.