Spring of freedom

Esmail Bakhshi, worker at Haft Tapeh sugarcane factory  Esmail Bakhshi, one of the spokespersons for the protesting workers of Haft Tapeh Sugarcane Agro Industrial Company in the Khuzestan province, described the horrible conditions of his incarceration in an open letter published on his Instagram page, addressed to Mahmoud Alavi, the head of the notorious Ministry of Intelligence & Security (MOIS). According to Bakhshi, during the first days of his incarceration, he was tortured to the brink of death without any reason and was beaten so violently that he couldn’t move for 72 hours. Esmail Bakhshi was arrested on November 18, 2018, by MOIS during the peaceful labor protests of the workers of Iran’s largest sugarcane factory. The workers of Haft Tapeh were protesting against months-overdue wages and problems caused by the privatization of the company. In his letter, Bakhshi describes that while beating him, his torturers also insulted him and attacked him with prof...

Strike and demonstration of Ahvaz Steel and Haft Tapeh Sugarcane Mill workers Strike and demonstration of Ahvaz Steel and Haft Tapeh Sugarcane Mill  workers against oppression of the clerical regime On the morning of Tuesday, November 20, the strike and demonstration of the brave workers of Ahvaz Steel and Haft Tappeh Sugarcane mill continued. Haft Tappeh Sugarcane workers rallied on the 16 th  day of their strike in front of the regime's governorate in the city of Shush, protesting the arrest of their colleagues. They chanted on the march to the city market: “Imprisoned worker must be freed; We are workers of Steel, we stand together; Lest we accept humiliation” In Ahvaz, steel workers rallied in front of the Governorate on the eleventh day of their strike, despite the presence of a variety of repressive forces. They chanted: “We, the steel workers, fight against oppression; unemployment, inflation, the plight of people; inflation, high prices, respond Rouhani; b...

Demonstration by the workers of the Haft Tapeh sugar cane company in Iran  On Wednesday, the workers of the Haft Tapeh sugar cane company in Shush, Khuzestan, began the 17 th  day of their demonstrations in protest to unpaid wages, the arrest of their colleagues and the government’s lack of response to their demands. The protesters were chanting, “Imprisoned workers must be freed.” The protesters were holding pictures of imprisoned workers. Last week, the Iranian regime’s security forces arrested several of the protesters and their spokespersons. On Monday, under the pressure of mounting tensions and expanding protests, regime officials released all but four of the protesters and a local reporter. The regime has yet to respond to the demands of the workers. Haft Tapeh is the largest sugar cane factory in Iran and one of the largest in the Middle East. But due to the destructive economic policies of the Iranian regime, the company is on the verge of bankruptcy. Thi...