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A Round up of February 2017 Protests

Iran State-Media Reflect Mullahs’ Utter Fear of Major Protests
Iran, Protests in Tehran December 2017– January 2018 – file photo

NCRI – According to publicly recorded news and statistics, in the month of February 2017, at least 402 protests took place in Iran.

The figures of protests in February are as follows:

201 cases of labour protests, 140 cases of protests for miscellaneous issues, 21 cases of protests by prisoners, 14 cases of prisoners on hunger strike, 13 cases of educational staff protests and 3 student protests.

The number of protests in February was higher than that of January.

1. Labour protests:

201 labour protests in 47 cities, towns and industrial cities took place in February. The total number of protests was slightly higher than the previous month.

The reasons behind the protests were: several months to several years of pay arrears, not receiving insurance premiums, not receiving bonuses from last year, non-payment of severance pay, lack of benefits, layoffs and unemployment.

This month several labour protests were carried out by workers from Hepco factory in Arak, a concrete factory in Masjed Soleiman, Nilou tiles in Najaf Abad, Agro-industry in Mahabad, Ghoo vegetable oil in Tehran, Iran’s industrial steel group and a steel factory in Ardabil.

Workers and bus drivers from Tehran Transit Company and their families rallied in front of the central municipality of Tehran to protest the non-utilization of housing facilities.

Also, a group of workers published a text about the prosecution of Jafar Azim Zadeh.

2. Teachers protests:

There were 13 cultural protests in four cities across Iran. Statistics for the month show a slight increase from January.

Protests were over lack of salary increases, lack of equalization of retirement wages and lack of formal employment. Also, a group of teachers published a text about the prosecution of Jafar Azim Zadeh. Teachers who retired in 2016 gathered in front of parliament to demand their 30-year employment bonus.

3. Student protests:

In February, students protested in three cities. They protested about financial problems, service, education, transportation issues, lack of accommodation and against the decision for the closure of a university and its merger with another university.

4. Other types of protests:

Last month, 140 protests took place because of other issues. The main ones were carried out by people from Ahwaz to protest the power and water situation and the crisis caused by dust storms in Khuzestan province. They held signs with slogans criticising Khamenei. There was also a rally of the families of prisoners sentenced to death in front of Parliament, a rally of firefighters in Mashhad, a gold merchants protest in Mashhad, a rally of civil and military retirees in Tehran, a gathering of the staff of Samen al-Hujaj Institute in different provinces and a gathering of victims of financial institutions in various cities.

5. Political prisoner protests:

There were 21 protests regarding prisoners in February in Iran. The protests were as follows: Protest by Zahedan prisoners of Section 1 and 2 to the amalgamation of Section 2, leading to the creation of intolerable conditions for prisoners; protests regarding the wellbeing of Narges Mohammadi, Athena Daemi, Maryam Akbari Monfared and Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, and protests about Shahnaz Akmali’s situation.

There was also the following:

– Message from Abolghasem Fouladvand on February 8

– Message from Arjang Davoodi on February 11

– Letter from Khalid Hardani to Asma Jahangir about the cold situation in prisons, the closing of all openings in Hall 12 and the denial of the most basic human rights to prisoners in Gohardasht prison

– Letter from a group of prisoners in different sections of Gohardasht Prison on the worrying situation of the prison and shouting “Death to the dictator” and “Death to Khamenei” on the eve of the anniversary of the anti-monarchic revolution by prisoners in Gohardasht Prison in Hall 12

– Message from Abolghasem Fouladvand on February 11 in which he asked people to boycott the rallies of February 11 and to prepare themselves for the festival of fire

– Letter from cellmates of Hamid Babaei about moving him to an undisclosed location

– An article by Arjang Davoudi on the horrendous conditions of Zabul prison and torture by guards against inmates conditions

– Letter from Hassan Dehvari to the UN Secretary-General, the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on Iran’s affairs
about his death sentence and condition for his stay of execution and his release that led to the surrender of his family members

– Letter from Saeed Shirzad about the arrest of Shahnaz Akmali

-A short piece of writing by Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee and Athena Daemi addressed to Maryam Karim Baigi, the daughter of Shahnaz Akmali

– A piece of writing by Behnam Ebrahimzadeh entitled “From box sleepers to grave sleepers to super billionaire embezzlers”

– Letter from a group of political prisoners in Evin and Gohardasht Prisons to Asma Jahangir regarding Mehdi Khazali’s situation

– A memorial held by prisoners for the execution of 12 fellow prisoners in Gohardasht Prison and a statement of solidarity from 16 prisoners of conscience and political prisoners of Hall 12 of Gohardasht Prison with the protests and demands of the people of the Khuzestan province

– A piece of writing by Mohammad Saber Malek Raisi about his innocence and the torture he has seen inflicted upon Sunni scholars, a letter from prisoners of Gohardasht prison about the return of physical and psychological torture and beating the prisoners in Section 4 of Hall 11 and a complaint from a prisoner in Fashafouyeh prison regarding officials and prison doctors who have been negligent in his treatment

6. Hunger strike of prisoners:

There were 14 cases of hunger strikes in the Iranian regime’s prisons. Statistics for this month were double that of January. These include:

– Protest by Omid Shahmoradi Sanandaji against the lack of response to continued legal proceedings, repression against his family and his wife and lack of response to his complaint

– Protest by Amin Afshari Naderi against his arrest and uncertainty in prison

– Protest by Hadi Asgari regarding the 6 months of uncertainty he has gone through since his arrest

– Protest by Seyyed Mohammad Ali Mousavi regarding his arrest

– Protest by Ahmad Reza Jalali regarding his refusal of court-appointed lawyers and threats from Judge Salavati

– Protest by Vahid Sayadari Nassiri regarding his being beaten by ordinary prisoners and against the prison wardens who have failed to act