Iran Regime Summons Tens Of Labor Activists Ahead Of May Day
At least 50 labor activists in Tehran, Kordestan and Gilan provinces have been summoned on the eve of International Workers Day.
At least 50 labor activists in Tehran, Kordestan and Gilan provinces have been summoned on the eve of International Workers Day.
Pressure increased on teacher and worker union activists ahead of International Workers Day, but rallies took place in Tehran and other cities mostly by retired workers.
Security agents have warned labor activists they are forbidden from attending May Day gatherings on Monday.
The Free Union of Iranian Workers announced that two members of its board of directors, were threatened and interrogated by intelligence agencies.
According to Hengaw Kurdish-Iranian human rights monitoring group, at least eight other labor activists have been summoned in the Western Kurdish city of Sanandaj.
The summons issued while calls for holding a rally to commemorate May Day have been published by the labor activists.
Meanwhile, the Writers' Association of Iran has called for the unconditional release of all labor activists, including Keyvan Mohtadi and other political prisoners.
The Council of Retirees of Iran also published a statement to slam the economic policies of the regime which have “destroyed the life of workers”.
On the eve of the international day of protests, the Central Council of Iran's National Front released a statement claiming “Iranian workers are increasingly under economic pressures facing the most severe livelihood problems”.
On Sunday, a group of 15 trade unions and civil rights groups issued a statement on the eve of International Workers' Day to voice support for the ongoing protests and strikes in Iran.
Jalil Rahimi Jahanabadi told Rouydad24 news website: "Every one of Raisi's ministers we have dismissed has been replaced by someone even weaker." He predicted that someone several times lower in rank than Fatemi-Amin will become the next minister of industry.
Jahanabadi reiterated that it is highly unlikely the next minister would be more experienced, having better plans or being more capable than his predecessor in any other way. He also argued that Fatemi-Amin was a victim of the government's unclear policies.
Without naming Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who usually makes all key decisions without being accountable for them, Jahanabadi charged that those policies are often made by those whose positions are beyond the government's control.
He said: "A thousand presidents like Raisi and a thousand ministers such as Fatemi-Amin will become the victim of those policies as long as the country's strategic policies are not determined."
Jahanabadi said even more pessimistically that a new minister will take office, change all of the ministry's deputies and major managers and before he can control the affairs of the ministry, he will have to be impeached for similar reasons.
Lawmaker for Tabriz, Ahmad Alirezabeigi who had initially charged the former minister with giving 75 SUVs to parliamentarians to avert a previous impeachment motion, said after Fatemi-Amin's dismissal that he has given 147 cars to the lawmakers. Alirezabeigi told Didban Iran website that he has presented evidence supporting his claim to the Public Prosecutor's Office.
He said a document signed by the executive deputy to the speaker of the parliament indicates that he had designated at least 57 lawmakers to receive the cars at a discounted price several times lower than market value. He said the profit for the lawmakers was huge due to the vast difference between the price set by the importing company and the sale price in the market.
Ironically, although Fatemi Amin has been impeached and replaced from his post partly because of the deal about the cars, none of those who have received the cars have been reportedly questioned, indicted or even publicly named.
On Saturday, one day before the impeachment, Alirezabeigi said in a statement published on former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Telegram channel that he had been summoned for questioning by both the Prosecutor's Office and the Board Supervising Lawmakers' Behavior. The channel presented long lists of the lawmakers who had received the car but blackened their names to avoid prosecution for possible libel.
In the meantime, while the controversy over impeachment continues, former government spokesman Ali Rabiei noted in a commentary in Etemad Online website that the campaign against financial corruption should be accompanied by structural reforms before being turned into security and judiciary projects.
Rabiei accused Iranian governments of failing to carry social projects forward. Interestingly, Rabiei himself has been a member of the government in most of the 43 years the Islamic Republic has been in power.
Following Cohen's recent state visit to Azerbaijan, the Knesset members in a letter delivered to Cohen’s office asked the Israeli government to “pressure Iran to stop oppressing the Azeri minority in northwest Iran” based on a request by the Jewish community in Azerbaijan.
Before a scheduled speech at the Anti-Defamation League, Pahlavi strongly condemnedthe action of the Israeli lawmakers.
“The verbal assault on Iran’s territorial integrity by 32 members of the Israeli parliament is completely unacceptable and a service to the interests of the anti-Iranian Islamic Republic regime.”
Also, in a statement published on Twitter Sunday, the diaspora political group (7th Aban Front in Persian) said the Knesset members’ letter regarding “the Azeri minority” in Iran is “a clear case of action against Iran's existence”.
“Solidarity for a Free Iran considers this letter a hostile act against the Iranian nation and strongly condemns it,” the statement said.
“It is noteworthy that the letter of these Knesset members is in sheer contradiction with the statements made by Israeli government officials regarding friendship between the two nations of Iran and Israel during the recent visit of Prince Reza Pahlavi,” Solidarity for Free Iran said.
Prince Reza Pahlavi, a leading opposition figure, had visited Israel earlier this month and met with Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This was the first time a prominent Iranian political figure had paid a public visit to Israel.
The group also stressed its belief in friendly relations with all countries and fighting against “reactionary discourses such as antisemitism” in the post-Islamic Republic Iran and condemned the Iranian regime’s animosity toward Israel but added that they would not allow “any country or political group to take advantage of such principles to spread hate and contentiousness against the Iranian nation.
The Knesset members accused the Iranian regime of “carrying out a policy of cultural genocide by restricting the right of members of the Azeri minority to study and spread its heritage, to teach its language and even to register children with Azeri national names.”
Around a quarter of Iran’s population is Turki-speaking Azari (in Iran the word is Azari – not Azeri), with analysts and activists disagreeing over the closeness of their cultural-linguistic links to their neighbors to the north.
It should be noted that Supreme Leaser Ali Khamenei and many past and current high-ranking Iranian officials come from the Azari community.
The letter said the Jewish community of Azerbaijan is “very concerned” about the persecution of the said ethnic minority in Iran and stressed that the country of Azerbaijan is one of the most important strategic allies of Israel in the region.
“Obtaining international support as broad as possible for the national aspirations of the people of South Azerbaijan (term used by Baku for Iran’s Azarbaijan) will be a fatal blow to the Ayatollah regime, and establishment of the sovereign state of South Azerbaijan,” they wrote.
Supporting the separation of what they called South Azerbaijan from Iran would also be “an appropriate response on the level of political activism to the subversion of the Ayatollah regime” against Israel.
Tensions have been high between Tehran and Baku, an Israeli ally since November 2022 when both sides accused each other of engaging in terrorism and espionage. Tehran has also accused Baku of harboring Israeli intelligence and military elements that plan to use its territory in a possible attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Solidarity for a Free Iran was founded by prominent political activists after a gathering of political and civil activists from the Iranian diaspora in Brussels in late October, less than three months after Mahsa Protests began and spread across the country.
