The Number of Detainees in the Widespread Protests of Haft Tappeh Workers Reaches 19

As news emerges regarding the promises made by Iran's Ministers of Labor and Economy to address the issues faced by workers at Haft Tappeh in Khuzestan, reports indicate that the number of detainees from their widespread protests has risen to at least 19. Gholamreza Shariati, the governor of Khuzestan, had previously confirmed the arrest of four individuals related to the labor protests in Haft Tappeh and Shush, which have been ongoing for 14 days, but did not mention their names or the reasons for their arrests. The Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Workers' Syndicate reported on Sunday, November 27, that Ismail Bakhti, one of the labor representatives of this industrial unit, along with Muslim Armend, another labor representative, and a female journalist, were arrested and transferred to the security office of Shush County. Following these reports, the official channel of Haft Tappeh workers announced the names of 18 individuals who were detained by security forces, including journalist Sepideh Ghaliyan. The Telegram channel listed the detainees as "Ismail Bakhti, Mohsen Armend, Mohammad Khonifar, Pouya Bashmeh, Saeed Mansouri, Jalil Ahmadi, Iman Khazari, Azim Sarakhe, Mehdi Davoodi, Saeed Al-Katir, Alizadeh, Omid Azadi, Hassan Fazeli, Samir Ahmadi, Emad Katir, and Mahmoud Saadi". According to the report, "Khalid Tamimi and Salamatnia", managers of sections of Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company, have also been arrested. These arrests occurred while the public prosecutor of Shush told the lawyer of the detained workers that "he has not received any report in this regard." With the continuation of labor protests, special forces were deployed in the Haft Tappeh area and Shush County early Saturday morning. However, reports indicated that these forces had exited Shush by Sunday. Before his arrest, Ismail Bakhti, in a speech that was circulated on social media, criticized the deployment of special forces to the area, asking them why they had aimed their weapons at the people, stating that the protesting workers only had labor demands. The Haft Tappeh sugarcane workers, citing what they call the "incompetence of the private employer", are demanding the transfer of ownership of this unit to the workers and its management by a workers' council or the return of the company's ownership to the public sector with oversight from a workers' council. Another labor demand from the Haft Tappeh sugarcane workers is the payment of four months of overdue wages for thousands of workers at this agricultural-industrial unit. Razi Nouri, the representative of Shush in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, also stated that "the Ministry of Economy has promised us that the problems of Haft Tappeh sugarcane workers will be resolved within one or two days, and we hope these issues will be resolved." He did not refer to the promised commitments in his conversation with ISNA, but in a conversation with "Ruydad 24", he mentioned that "upon the request of the Minister of Agriculture from Jahangiri, it was announced that the wages of Haft Tappeh workers (about five thousand people) would be paid from the sugarcane subsidies." According to Nouri, "previously, this factory had faced problems, and workers had not received wages for up to three months, but now the situation has become much more difficult, and this factory has been unable to fulfill its purchases and commitments on time due to currency fluctuations." An unnamed official in the Ministry of Labor also told Fars News Agency that following the Minister of Labor's orders, a team of experts from this ministry, led by the Director General of Employment Support and Unemployment Insurance, was dispatched to Haft Tappeh in Khuzestan on Sunday. However, according to ILNA, the protesting workers at this factory stated that since "for several years we have been repeatedly hearing promises of our demands being met from officials, but there has been no news of their implementation, therefore, based on previous experiences, we will continue our labor gatherings until our demands are met." Meanwhile, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the First Deputy of the Judiciary, reported that the CEO of Haft Tappeh Agro-Industry is "on the run" and, according to ISNA, "is not even in prison to be given the opportunity to resolve the issues."