During the last hours on the 37th day of the Ahwaz Steel National Industrial Group workers’ strike, a number of them were arrested by security forces in their homes and transferred to unknown locations.
According to the Campaign for the Defense of Political and Civil Prisoners, on Sunday evening of December 17th, 2018, at least four workers from the Ahwaz Steel National Industrial Group were arrested by security forces in their homes and transferred to unknown locations. It has been said that all these arrests took place without a judicial order.
Local sources say, “Last night, some of the workers from the Ahwaz National Steel Group, including Gharib Hvizawi, Tariq Khalafi (Halfi), Hossein Davoodi, and Mostafa Abiyat, were arrested in their homes.”
According to the same report, these arrests were linked to recent labor protests in Ahwaz, and the number of detainees seems to be higher.
Sunday, December 17th, 2018, marked the 37th day of the workers of the Ahwaz Steel National Industrial Group’s strike and protest. According to the Free Trade Union (SBA), the security forces have kept a strong presence around the protest route for the past two days.
It should be noted that Ismail Bakhshi, Ali Nejati, Meysam Al-Mahdi, and Sepideh Ghaliyan are among those arrested in connection with labor protests in Ahvaz. Sepideh Ghaliyan and Ali Nejati are still in detention.
It is said that the arrest of Asal Mohammadi, a pharmaceutical student at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the Azad University of Tehran and a member of the editorial board of the “Gham” magazine, is also related to the same labor protests.
The Free Alliance of Workers in Iran reported that the Ahwaz Information Office summoned 10 workers from the National Iranian Steel Industrial Group and told them that if the protest continues, they will do whatever is needed to stop them.
Among the demands of the workers of the Ahwaz Steel National Group are “the return of the company to the government, the continuous entry of bullion and raw materials, the launch of all production lines, the supply of equipment and components, the continuous sale of products, and the timely and continuous payment of workers’ wages.”