Iran-HRM – The Free Trade Union of Workers of Iran announced the arrest of dozens of workers from the National Iranian Steel Industrial Group in Ahvaz.
According to the workers’ organization, the authorities raided the homes of dozens of protesting National Steel Group workers in the midnight hours of Monday local time without a written warrant from the judiciary.
The state security forces attacked many houses but only succeeded in apprehending 28 workers. Many of the workers who weren’t at their homes at the time of the attacks could not be apprehended. Many of the workers had to spend the night in the streets to avoid arrest.
This raid, continued until 2 am.
According to reports by the Workers Union, security forces entered the Ahvaz steel company this morning and after declaring the arrests, they threatened to arrest other workers if they continued their protests and demonstrations.
The workers’ organization has identified the 15 workers as:
- Meysam Ali Ghanavati
- Isa Marei
- Amin Alvani
- Morteza Akbarian
- Tareq Khalfi
- Masoud Afri
- Jafar Sobhani
- Mostafa Abiat
- Gharib Havizawi
- Karim Siahi
- Hamed Baseri
- Hafez Kanani
- Hamed Joudaki
- Hossein Davoudi
- Kazem Heydari
- Yaser Ebrahimian
- Majid Janadeleh
- Kourosh Esmaili
- Ali Oghba
- Mohsen Balouti
- Mohammad Pour Hassan
- Mohsen Pahbati
- Seyyed Habib Tabatabaei
- Jasem Romezi
- Ali Etmami
- Seyyed Ali Javadpour
- Javad Gholami
- Abdolreza Dasti
The outspoken labor activist Karim Siahi delivered a fiery speech yesterday encouraging the workers to continue their strike.
“Don’t be afraid if they arrest you, threaten you or execute you,” he had cried out to the workers.