Protest Presence of Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Workers at Shush Friday Prayer

According to reports, a group of workers from the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company on Friday, November 25, during the twelfth day of their strike, shouted protest slogans at the Friday prayer in the city of Shush. Based on videos published on social media, these workers chanted, "This whole army has come, for the love of the worker." Other slogans included, "Hussein Hussein, their slogan, theft is their pride," "Death to the oppressor, greetings to the worker," and "The worker dies, but does not accept humiliation." The presence of protesters at Friday prayers began last year with a group of protesting farmers from Isfahan in the Friday prayer of that city, where they turned their backs to the prayer platform and chanted, "Facing the homeland, back to the enemy," a slogan that was also repeated at the Haft Tappeh workers' gathering. According to these reports, the workers symbolically carried the "body of the Haft Tappeh Company" in the city of Shush on the twelfth day of their strike. The protesting workers announced on Friday that they would continue their strike. According to the Free Workers Union of Iran, the Haft Tappeh sugarcane workers protested what they called the "endless problems" of this company and demanded the payment of their overdue wages. The Haft Tappeh Workers' Syndicate states that their wages have not been paid since August. Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, the public and revolutionary prosecutor of Tehran, stated on November 1 that "a person in Khuzestan bought a company and received about 800 million dollars from 2015 to 2017 and has not fulfilled his foreign commitments and is currently on the run." He did not mention the name of this person or company. However, according to Telegram channels of the Haft Tappeh workers and the syndicate of these workers, the company referred to by the public prosecutor is "the same Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company, and based on investigations and obtained documents, the name of Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company is among the companies that failed to fulfill their foreign commitments on the Central Bank's list." According to this report, "the employers of the company who have not fulfilled their foreign commitments are reportedly in detention by order of the prosecutor's office." This report has not been confirmed or denied by judicial authorities. Previously, reports had been published regarding the fleeing or imprisonment of the private employer of Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company. In this context, security and judicial pressures on Haft Tappeh sugarcane workers and the National Industrial Steel Group are noted, along with the employer's agreement to some of the demands of the striking Haft Tappeh workers. The slogan "Back to the enemy, facing the homeland" has become an innovation in recent protests in Iran. The slogan "Our enemy is right here" has also been heard in Kazeroon. Protests at the Friday prayer location in Khorramshahr included the chant, "In the name of religion, they plundered us." There is severe government repression and the danger of protests becoming "underground." What doctors and eyewitnesses recount about the injured in the protests reveals the extent of the situation. The limitations of relations between China and Iran have become apparent amid the protests.