Ahwaz Human Rights Org - AHRO Ahwaz Human Rights Org

Iran must end the crackdown on the protests and strikes of workers in Shush and Ahwaz

The Iranian authorities have continued to suppress the protests and strikes of workers of the Ahwaz Steel Company and the Haft-Tapeh Sugarcane Company in Susa (Shosh) in the North of the Ahwaz region for more than two weeks.

Labour activists have reported on the arrests of 15 protest workers of the Haft Tape Sugar Cane Company, which are: Ismail Bakhshi, Moslem Armands, Mohammad Khannifar, Azim Sorkheh, Omid Azadi, Jalil Ahmadi, Saeed Mansouri and Mehdi Davoodi. Despite news of the release of three detainees, no source has been able to confirm that yet. The protesters are calling for the immediate release of all labour activists.

Officials fear the expansion and continuation of the protest in Susa (Shoush) and Ahwaz and in various ways tried to stop these rallies. On Thursday, the officials sent a number of Mullahs among the protestors to sympathize with the workers and calm them down, but the workers ignored them and continued their protests and did not stand behind them in the prayer of the congregation!

As well as requesting the fulfilment of the promise by company officials and government officials to pay part of their quarterly salary payments to workers, workers are demanding full payment of their rights, which is why the workers have been continuously striking until today, Thursday, November 24, 2018, in front of the governorate of the city of Susa (Shoush).

Protesters gather in defiance against the governorate of Susa (Shoush) to claim for their salaries and benefits, which they feel entitled to, also demanding the release of their detained colleagues, which was the reason that other workers of the industry, as well as teachers, decided to join them. In addition, during the gatherings, thousands of indigenous Arab protesters who were unemployed or became unemployed due to discriminatory employment and non-indigenous employment policies joined the protest.

It should be recalled that the problems of Haft Tape Sugarcane Company, which has been in existence for more than fifty years since its founding in the North of the historic city of Susa, began with its inaccurate assignment to the private sector, which resulted in the creation of many problems for workers, particularly the conversion of their contracts from fixed to temporary!

In this regard, Ahwaz Human Rights Organization, while condemning the suppression of workers' legal protests and strikes by security and law enforcement agencies, calls for full rights, benefits and the release of all workers in the ward.

Ahwaz Human Rights Organization

24 Nov 2018

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Last Updated: 24 November 2018

Two Ahwazi Arab Activist Killed Under Torture In an Iranian intelligence detention center

Reliable local sources informed Ahwaz Human Rights Organization that two Ahwazi Arab detainees, the 28 year-old Ahmed Heidari, son of Abboud, and 34 year-old Adnan Sawari, were tortured to death in Ahwaz’s Ministry of intelligence detention centre.

A close source to Heidari family told the organization that Ahwaz intelligence had informed them on Saturday that their son had been killed and claimed that the cause of death was a clash with the interrogators.

On Sunday, two agents of the Ministry of Intelligence in civilian clothing came to the family's home in Camp polo (Revolution Street), preventing them from holding public funeral in accordance with Arabic customs.

Heidari's family demanded that the body of their son be delivered and unless they see the body, they will not believe he is dead. the agent’s response was that Naser Heidari, Ahmed’s cousin who was his cell mate would contact the family from Ahwaz intelligence agency detention center and would confirm Ahmed's death.

The source emphasised that, the following day, Nasser contacted the family and said that he had seen Ahmed's dead body and he had signed on the body identification sheet. But the family believe that Nasser had done so by force.

The second is victim, Adnan Sawari. Ahwaz Intelligence Agency contacted his family and inform them that their son had died in the detention center. Adnan has two bothers who are currently in detention.

Despite the denial of the governor of Khuzestan and a member of the National Security Commission of the execution of 22 Ahwazi activists -in connection with the attack on the military parade- concerns continue about “secret executions “- which is in fact not unprecedented in Ahwaz.

The Ministry of Intelligence had previously released a video of the arrest of these 22 people claiming they “supported or were involved" in the military attack and allegedly they were arrested in a house in which "explosives, military equipments and communication devices“ have been discovered and confiscated.

Although ISIS announced the responsibility for the attack, security forces and the Revolutionary Guards have raided various districts of Ahwaz and other Arab cities in the past two months, and over 800 people among them women, the elites of Ahwazi Arab community, cultural activists, and ordinary citizens were arrested as a result.

The families of the defendants are still concerned about the possibility that the detainees may be forced to confess under torture in the Ministry of Intelligence's secret detention centers, as there are many similar examples in the past years where Ahwazi Arab activists were killed under torture or executed following forced confessions. What mainly raises our concern in AHRO is that the detainees are subjected to vague and unfair judicial process without the right to acquire independent lawyers nor family visits.

Ahwaz Human Rights Organization ( AHRO) condemns the brutal killing of Ahmed Hedari and Adnan Sawari and calls for persecution of the perpetrators of this heinous crime against Ahwazi Arab detainees who are denied from their basic human rights in Islamic Republic of Iran. We also demand the immediate release of more than 800 Ahwazi Arab activists and ordinary citizens who are victim of arbitrary arrest

AHRO also calls for the involvement of legal entities, in particular, the UN Special Rapporteur Mr. Javaid Rahman, to conduct an independent inquiry into the matter.
Ahwaz Human Rights Organization ( AHRO)
14 Nov 2018