{"id":1486,"date":"2019-09-09T12:33:26","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T12:33:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=1486"},"modified":"2019-09-10T12:33:42","modified_gmt":"2019-09-10T12:33:42","slug":"mass-sentencing-of-labor-activists-journalists-prelude-to-reign-of-repression-under-new-judiciary-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/?p=1486","title":{"rendered":"Mass Sentencing of Labor Activists, Journalists Prelude to Reign of Repression Under New Judiciary Chief"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Seven Sentenced to Lengthy Jail Terms in Connection with Peaceful Protests <\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

September 9, 2019\u2014Less than a year after workers\u2019 rights activists in southwestern Iran publicized evidence that Intelligence Ministry agents had tortured detainees, those same activists and four independent journalists who covered their cases have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sentences are an indicator that newly appointed Judiciary Chief\u00a0<\/span>Ehrabim Raisi<\/span><\/a>\u00a0intends to prolong his predecessor\u2019s reign of repression by punishing peaceful activism through arbitrary arrests and kangaroo courts,\u201d said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFreedom of assembly is guaranteed by Iran\u2019s Constitution, yet the judiciary is decimating that right by punishing activists and journalists for exercising it,\u201d he added. \u201cRaisi has signaled that he will be accelerating the corrosion of the rule of law in Iran to stamp out peaceful dissent.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The sentences are part of the government\u2019s heavy-handed response to more than two years of\u00a0<\/span>protests<\/span><\/a>\u00a0at the Haft Tappeh sugar mill in the city of Shush, Khuzestan Province, for unpaid wages and workers\u2019 rights.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The following individuals were all convicted of \u201cnational security\u201d charges for participating in or covering those demonstrations, according to a post by the\u00a0<\/span>Haft Tappeh workers\u2019 Telegram channel<\/span><\/a>\u00a0on September 7, 2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They were all sentenced by notorious hardline Judge Mohammad Moghiseh at Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran:<\/span><\/p>\n

Esmail Bakhshi<\/span><\/a>, Haft Tappeh worker, union representative, 14 years in prison<\/span><\/p>\n

Sepideh Qoliyan<\/span><\/a>, labor rights activist and freelance journalist, 18.6 years in prison<\/span><\/p>\n

Amirhossein Mohammadifard<\/span><\/a>, editor-in-chief of the independent Gam Telegram app news channel, 18 years in prison<\/span><\/p>\n

Asal Mohammadi<\/span><\/a>, Gam reporter, 18 years in prison\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sanaz Allahyari<\/span><\/a>, Gam reporter, 18 years in prison<\/span><\/p>\n

Amir Amirgholi<\/span><\/a>, Gam reporter, 18 years in prison\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mohammad Khonifar,<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Haft Tappeh worker, six years in prison<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Peaceful Activism, Press Freedom Treated as National Security Crime<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The same day the sentences were issued, on September 7, 2019, former Tehran Prosecutor\u00a0<\/span>Saeed Mortazavi<\/span><\/a>\u2014the only official who was held accountable for the torture and deaths of three political prisoners in 2009\u2014walked free from prison after serving two years of his three-year sentence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The seven defendants are currently imprisoned in Tehran\u2019s Evin Prison.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Worker\u2019s rights activist\u00a0<\/span>Ali Nejati<\/span><\/a>\u00a0was supposed to be included in the mass trial but has been free on bail since January 28, 2019, for medical reasons and it is not known when he will be tried.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If the sentences are upheld on appeal, the defendants would each have to serve seven years in prison, and Khonifar five years, according to Article 134 of the\u00a0<\/span>Islamic Penal Code<\/span><\/a>, which stipulates that only the lengthiest sentence must be served in cases involving multiple convictions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

All seven were convicted of \u201cassembly and collusion against national security,\u201d \u201cforming groups with the intention of disturbing national security\u201d and \u201ccontacts with anti-state organizations.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Qoliyan and Bakhshi were also convicted of \u201cdisturbing public opinion\u201d and \u201cpublishing falsehoods.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Article 27 of Iran\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>Constitution<\/span><\/a>, \u201cPublic gatherings and marches may be freely held, provided arms are not carried and that they are not detrimental to the fundamental principles of Islam.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But peaceful labor activism in Iran is treated as a national security offense; independent\u00a0<\/span>labor unions<\/span><\/a>\u00a0are not allowed to function, strikers are often fired and risk arrest and labor leaders are consistently\u00a0<\/span>prosecuted<\/span><\/a>\u00a0under catchall national security charges and sentenced to long prison terms.<\/span><\/p>\n

Arrested for Demanding Unpaid Wages, Accusing Intelligence Ministry of Torture\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Qoliyan and Bakhshi were initially\u00a0<\/span>arrested<\/span><\/a>\u00a0on November 18, 2018, at a rally by Haft Tappeh workers in the city of Shush where workers have been protesting for\u00a0<\/span>unpaid wages<\/span><\/a>\u00a0since 2017.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After they were released on bail a month later, they reported that agents of the Intelligence Ministry had tortured Bakhshi while he was in their custody.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the first few days, without reason or any conversation, they tortured me and beat me with their fists and kicked me until I was going to die. They beat me so much I couldn\u2019t move in my cell for 72 hours,\u201d Bakhshi wrote on his now-suspended Instagram page on January 4, 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

His account was corroborated by other detainees including Qoliyan, who\u00a0<\/span>tweeted<\/span><\/a>\u00a0on January 9: \u201cDuring Esmail Bakhshi\u2019s arrest, I witnessed him being brutally beaten and when he was interrogated I saw him being humiliated\u2026I\u2019m ready to give testimony about myself and Esmail Bakhshi in any fair trial.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Both Bakhshi and Qoliyan were subsequently\u00a0<\/span>re-arrested<\/span><\/a>\u00a0on January 20.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The journalists who covered their cases and Haft Tappeh protests by posting reports on the independent Gam Telegram app independent news channel were also arrested in January.<\/span><\/p>\n

A group of parliamentarians\u00a0<\/span>condemned<\/span><\/a>\u00a0the renewed crackdown on freedom of speech and assembly, calling on Raisi, who was\u00a0<\/span>appointed<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to head the judiciary by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in March, to rescind the heavy sentences.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Hojatoleslam [Ebrahim] Raisi became the judiciary chief, his statements reminded the people of the meaning of justice and due process. But unfortunately, we are again witnessing the same kind of sentences preferred by the previous Judiciary Chief [Sadegh Larijani],\u201d said Member of Parliament Parvaneh Salahshouri during a speech on September 1, 2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0On September 8, Iranian government-funded news outlets reported that Raisi may review the sentences.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to an informed source, Judiciary Chief [Ebrahim Raisi] has given a special order to the head of the judiciary in Tehran to reconsider and fairly assess recent verdicts issued by one of the branches of the Revolutionary Court as soon as possible,\u201d\u00a0<\/span>reported<\/span><\/a>\u00a0the Iranian Students News Agency.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The report did not specify which cases would be reviewed or when. Nor did it mention that Raisi participated in \u201c<\/span>death commissions<\/span><\/a>\u201d that ordered the extrajudicial executions of thousands of prisoners in 1988 based on fatwas issued by the Islamic Republic\u2019s founder and then-supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.<\/span><\/p>\n

Intensified Crackdown Also Targets Activists, Lawyers, and Students\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Environmentalists<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>students<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>lawyers<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>researchers<\/span><\/a>, and\u00a0<\/span>women\u2019s rights activists<\/span><\/a>\u00a0are among those being targeted in a renewed crackdown on freedom of speech, expression, and assembly by Iran\u2019s security establishment and judiciary that appears to be accelerating under Raisi.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which answers to the supreme leader, and the Intelligence Ministry, which operates under President Hassan Rouhani, are both executing the crackdowns by detaining citizens for peaceful actions such as attending protests or writing articles condemning state policies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Rouhani, who was voted into office promising to uphold\u00a0<\/span>citizens\u2019 rights<\/span><\/a>, has done nothing to address ongoing arbitrary arrests and rights violations by his own Intelligence Ministry,\u201d said Ghaemi.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Iranian people are living under a government that punishes them at will and with total disregard for the law when they demand their basic rights,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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September 9, 2019\u2014Less than a year after workers\u2019 rights activists in southwestern Iran publicized evidence that Intelligence Ministry agents had tortured detainees, those same activists and four independent journalists who<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[488],"class_list":["post-1486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights","tag-workers-rights-activists"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1486"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1487,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1486\/revisions\/1487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}