Workers of Haft Tappeh Sit in for the Release of Detainees

On Tuesday, November 28, workers of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company marched in Shush and staged a sit-in in front of the courthouse, demanding the release of detainees arrested on Sunday, November 27, marking the fifteenth day of their labor protest. According to videos shared on social media, the protesting workers chanted: 'Haft Tappeh prisoners must be freed' and 'No prison, no threats have any effect anymore.' Previously, reports indicated the arrest of at least 19 individuals in connection with the labor protests at Haft Tappeh on Sunday. According to the official channel of Haft Tappeh workers, 16 of the detainees, including Ismail Bakhti, Mohsen Armand, Mohammad Khonifar, Pouya Bashmeh, Saeed Mansouri, Jalil Ahmadi, Iman Khazari, and Azim Sarakheh, are labor representatives arrested on Sunday. Other labor representatives from Haft Tappeh, including Mehdi Davoodi, Saeed Al-Katir, Alizadeh, Omid Azadi, Hassan Fazeli, Samir Ahmadi, Emad Katir, and Mahmoud Saadi, have also been detained by security forces. Additionally, Khalid Tamimi and Salamatnia, two managers of sections of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company, along with a female journalist named Sepideh Ghaleian, have been arrested. The reasons for the arrests and the charges against the detainees have not yet been disclosed by Iranian authorities. Earlier, Gholamreza Shariati, the governor of Khuzestan, stated that four individuals had been arrested and that 'the rest will be officially announced later.' He did not mention the names of the detainees or their charges. The arrests occurred while the public prosecutor of Shush told Farzaneh Zilabi, the lawyer for the detained workers, that 'he had not received any report on this matter.' Meanwhile, the official channel of Haft Tappeh workers reported that the case of the detainees 'has been referred to the first branch of the public and revolutionary prosecutor's office in Shush, and Farzaneh Zilabi's representation was registered in the case file at the request of the prosecutor, but due to the case being declared security-related, her defense of her clients was not approved because her name is not on the list of lawyers approved by the head of the judiciary.' In this regard, the official channel of Haft Tappeh workers stated that the families of the detainees are extremely worried and are demanding the immediate release of their children and spouses. Earlier, special forces had been deployed in the Haft Tappeh area and the city of Shush on Saturday morning. However, reports indicated that these forces left Shush on Sunday. Ismail Bakhti, prior to his arrest, criticized the government for sending special forces to the area in a speech that was shared on social media, asking them, 'Why have you pointed your weapons at the people?' and stated that the workers of Haft Tappeh have labor demands. He expressed these remarks following the closure of the company gates by the special forces. The new wave of labor protests by Haft Tappeh workers came after reports emerged about the fleeing or imprisonment of the private employer of this unit. A few days prior, Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi, the public prosecutor of Tehran, stated that a person who purchased a company and received about $800 million in foreign currency facilities between 2015 and 2017 is on the run. He did not mention the name of this person or the company. Following that, representatives of Haft Tappeh workers reported two possibilities regarding the fleeing or arrest of Omid Asadbeigi, the private employer of the company, until the spokesperson for the 'Faction of Velayati Representatives' in parliament stated that Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesperson for the judiciary, informed them in a meeting on Sunday about the employer's fleeing status. According to ILNA news agency, quoting Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, the spokesperson for the judiciary, 'The CEO of Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company is on the run and is not in prison at all to be given an opportunity to solve problems.' The workers of Haft Tappeh are also 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 the oversight of a workers' council. This demand has so far been met with a negative response from the officials of Hassan Rouhani's government. In this regard, Amir Ashraf Pouri Hosseini, the head of the privatization organization, stated on Sunday in response to criticisms regarding the privatization of Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company that 'this organization has not committed any violations regarding the privatization of state-owned enterprises.' This comes amid numerous criticisms regarding the privatization of Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company with a down payment of 6 billion tomans or the transfer of the Moghan Agricultural and Industrial Company for the price of 2800 tomans per square meter to the privatization organization. Another labor demand of the workers of Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company is the payment of four months of overdue wages for thousands of workers of this agricultural-industrial unit. Government officials have promised that the overdue wages of the workers will be paid in the coming days.