Suspended Sentence of 30 Lashes for a Bahar Iron Ore Mine Worker

Mohammad Ali Jadari Foroughi, the defense lawyer, announced on Sunday, March 20, that a suspended lash sentence was issued for Mohammad Hassan Tashakori, an iron ore mine worker in Bafq, Yazd, by the Court of Appeals. According to ILNA news agency, Jadari Foroughi stated that in the appellate ruling, his client's lash sentence was not removed, and a final ruling was issued, sentencing his client to 30 lashes suspended for two years and a fine of 18 million rials. The report indicates that the Criminal Court of Yazd had previously sentenced Mohammad Hassan Tashakori to 11 months in prison and 50 lashes suspended for five years for 'disturbing public order and peace' in June of this year. Earlier, ILNA news had referred to Mr. Tashakori as a member of the Bafq City Council. According to ILNA, Mohammad Ali Jadari Foroughi expressed hope that his clients would be acquitted, noting that the Bahar iron ore mining company had withdrawn its complaint earlier this year. However, the governor of Bafq stated that the government had filed a complaint against these workers. This claim was neither confirmed nor denied by government officials. On Sunday, Jadari Foroughi pointed out that in the case of other workers from the Bahar iron ore mine, the lash punishment was converted to a fine, stating, 'There is no evidence for my client's conviction for complicity in disturbing public order, and an acquittal should have been issued.' He had previously mentioned that the lash sentences for seven workers from the Bahar iron ore mine had been revoked by the first branch of the Yazd Court of Appeals. These workers were arrested during the 2014 strike, where around five thousand workers from the Bahar iron ore company were detained. This strike was in protest against the privatization of the company. The workers opposed 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 workforce reductions, primarily affecting those with temporary contracts, and wage cuts, as they argued that private employers seek to increase production at lower costs and higher profits. Other demands from the workers included changing the mine's CEO, implementing laws for hard and hazardous jobs, ensuring the establishment and funding of adjacent processing and steel-making plants, transferring 15% of the mine's shares to the people of Bafq, gas supply to the city, and dual-lane construction of the Bafq-Yazd road. The issuance of lash sentences for workers in Iran is not new. For instance, 17 dismissed workers from the 'Agh Dareh Mine' in Takab County, West Azerbaijan Province, were sentenced to fines, prison, and 30 to 100 lashes for disturbing public order, with the lash sentences executed about three weeks ago. According to Tavakkol Heydari, the head of the judiciary in West Azerbaijan, their prison sentences were pardoned by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. According to the Mizan news agency, affiliated with the judiciary, Tavakkol Heydari defended this ruling, accusing the 17 lashed workers of being disruptors of public order and security. Following this, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Eje'i, the spokesperson for the judiciary, defended the issuance and execution of lash sentences in a press conference. Other lash sentences for workers include similar rulings for five workers from the Chadormalu mine in Yazd Province last April, who were sentenced to one year in prison and lashes. According to ILNA, these workers, along with 25 others from the mine, were tried after employer complaints for 'disturbing order and preventing the rights of others.' These sentences were not executed because these five workers had no criminal record, and their sentences could be converted to five years of suspended prison and three million rials in fines for each. However, the court stated that if the workers committed 'intentional crimes' from the date of the ruling until the end of the suspension period, the suspended sentence would be enforced in addition to the punishment for the recent crime. At the same time, in April of last year, two representatives of bakery workers in Sanandaj were also sentenced to five months of imprisonment and 30 lashes, which were converted to five years of suspended prison by the judge's favorable opinion. In September 2014, the public court of Imam Khomeini Port sentenced four workers of Razavi Petrochemical Company to six months in prison and 50 lashes. The court ruling was issued following a complaint from the CEO of Razavi Petrochemical Company against these workers for disturbing 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, lash sentences were not converted or suspended. For example, lash sentences against labor activists in Kurdistan Province were executed in 2008 and 2009. According to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Susan Razani and Shiva Khairabadi, two labor activists arrested after participating in the International Workers' Day ceremony in 2008 in Sanandaj, were lashed in Sanandaj Central Prison; Ms. Razani received 70 lashes and Ms. Khairabadi received 15. A year earlier, the Revolutionary Court of Sanandaj issued prison and lash sentences for 13 workers and labor activists who were arrested during the International Workers' Day ceremony on May 1 and were imprisoned for 50 days, with these sentences executed for some of the detainees. Typically, labor activists and representatives of factory workers have been dismissed, arrested, and imprisoned in recent years on security charges. This policy has drawn widespread criticism from labor and professional organizations as well as human rights organizations.