Trial of a Board Member of Tehran Bus Company at the Revolutionary Court

The Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company reported that Davood Razavi, a board member of this labor organization, was tried on Wednesday, January 23, at the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran. According to a statement released on Thursday, January 24, the charges against Mr. Razavi include 'conspiracy and collusion with the intent to act against national security and disrupt public order and tranquility through participation in illegal gatherings.' This labor activist has been arrested and imprisoned multiple times since 2005 due to his labor activities. According to the Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, he was last arrested at midnight on April 27 of this year at his home by agents of the Islamic Republic's Ministry of Intelligence and was released after 22 days from Ward 209 of Evin Prison on a bail of 100 million tomans. According to the report, Saleh Nikbakht, one of the lawyers defending members of the Syndicate of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, defended Davood Razavi against the charges and deemed them without legal evidence. He requested an acquittal for Davood Razavi, asserting that the Syndicate of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company is legal based on existing documents. Previously, Jafar Azimzadeh, the secretary of the board of the Free Workers' Union of Iran, had turned himself in to Evin Prison on November 8 of this year to serve his prison sentence. Mr. Azimzadeh had been sentenced to six years in prison on security charges. Before starting his prison term, this labor activist mentioned in an interview with Radio Farda that Judge Salavati, a judge of the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran, had written in his ruling that he was 'born with Marxist thoughts.' Additionally, Mahmoud Salehi, a member of the Coordination Committee to Help Establish Labor Organizations, was sentenced to nine years in prison this fall on security charges. Mr. Salehi was arrested by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence just before May Day, International Workers' Day this year. He, who suffers from kidney disease, announced after his release from the Ministry of Intelligence detention center in Sanandaj that his kidneys had failed due to not receiving his medications and that he needs dialysis twice a week. Alongside these labor activists, several other labor activists, including Mohammad Jaraahi, Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, Farzad Moradi Nia, and Ali Faez Pour, are also imprisoned. The arrest of labor activists and other labor representatives has led to protests from labor organizations in Iran as well as human rights organizations and labor unions worldwide. The arrest of protesting workers over their job conditions was reported by ILNA news agency, which stated that 12 workers from the Doroud Cement Company in Lorestan province were arrested on Wednesday, January 23, during the third day of protests by the workers of this factory following a complaint from the employer. The workers of Doroud Cement, whose number was not mentioned in the ILNA report, protested the cessation of production activities at this factory and demanded job security. According to ILNA, eight of the detainees are members of the Islamic Labor Council of the Doroud Cement factory. One of the detainees, Mansour Saki, is the head of the Islamic Councils Association of Lorestan province. These arrests occurred despite the fact that labor law permits the activities of Islamic labor councils in production units. Meanwhile, ILNA reported that the detained workers during the protests of hundreds of workers in phases 23 and 24 of the Assaluyeh region were released on Tuesday, January 22, after signing what was called a 'commitment.' These workers had been arrested by law enforcement forces. An informed source in Assaluyeh told ILNA that these workers were identified as 'disturbers of public order.' In recent years, several workers protesting their working conditions in various parts of Iran have been arrested on similar charges. According to ILNA, simultaneously with the release of workers in Assaluyeh, nearly a month of wage demands of striking workers in phases 22, 23, and 24 of Assaluyeh was also paid. Previously, an informed official in Assaluyeh confirmed the labor problems of contract workers in phases 22, 23, and 24 to ILNA, stating that this situation has caused dissatisfaction among workers, and in this regard, senior officials in the region are seeking to compel the employer and contractors to fulfill their unpaid wage commitments through the Security Council. According to this report, some of the workers in phases 22, 23, and 24 of Assaluyeh are working on construction projects in these areas through third and fourth-tier contracting companies. ILNA reported that the number of these workers is about one thousand, and a significant portion of them have been owed back wages since mid-summer this year due to what is described as non-payment of financial statements or the employer's and contractor's defaults. It was added that since around ten workers were identified as public order disturbers during the recent labor protests, some of them were separately arrested by law enforcement officials based on the decision of responsible authorities. In this context, the Free Workers' Union of Iran issued a statement criticizing the arrest of workers, rejecting accusations such as 'disturbing public order' against them, stating that these accusations have become overly 'hackneyed and lack any intimidating or deterrent effect.' This labor organization pointed to the issuance of a directive by the judiciary of Khuzestan province this fall, which deemed labor protests of petrochemical workers in Mahshahr illegal, stating that protesting workers will not retreat in their pursuit of their demands.