Revolutionary Court Sentences Labor Activist to Imprisonment, Forced Residency in Divandareh, and Other Penalties

Farhad Sheikhi, a labor activist, has been sentenced by the Revolutionary Court of Karaj to one year in prison, two years of travel ban, two years of forced residency in Divandareh, and two years of prohibition from living in Alborz and Tehran provinces. According to the news agency of the Human Rights Activists in Iran, HRANA, Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Karaj, presided over by Judge Mousa Assef Hosseini, issued its ruling against this labor activist on the charge of 'propaganda against the Islamic Republic.' Farhad Sheikhi was arrested on June 7, 2023, by government agents at his home in Hashtgerd, Karaj, and was later transferred to Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj. He was released on June 23 of the same year after being informed of the charges at the Hashtgerd Prosecutor's Office, with a bail set at 100 million tomans. This labor activist, who has a history of arrest and conviction due to his activities, was released from prison on February 7, 2023, following a pardon directive. The Free Union of Iranian Workers recently sent a letter to the 'International Labor Unions Section Worldwide,' urging them to consider the cases of 'widespread repression of workers, teachers, retirees, and all groups of working-class wage earners and independent organizations' as a 'continuation of the gross and blatant violation of human rights of workers in Iran.' According to this letter, in recent years, many current and former members such as Jafar Azimzadeh, Shapur Ehsani Rad, Parvin Mohammadi, Mozafar Saleh Nia, Sharif Saedpanah, Shith Amani, Heydar Ghorbani, Nahid Khodajoo, Farhad Sheikhi, Javanmir Moradi, Sadiq Karimi, Khaled Savari, Hossein Ghaderi, Jamil Mohammadi, Foad Kikhisravi, Tayeb Malayi, Hadi Soleimani, Mehdi Fakhri, Khalil Karimi, and many others have been repeatedly arrested and imprisoned for their labor activities. The Free Union of Iranian Workers added that many other workers, teachers, and labor activists have been arrested in recent months and years and are now temporarily released on bail. Foad Kikhisravi, a board member of the Free Union of Iranian Workers, stated in an interview with the Persian section of Voice of America last week that 'the depth of the violation of workers' rights and the repression of labor movement activists has taken on very catastrophic dimensions.' He reminded that in recent days, 100,000 Iranian workers have gone on strike.