#Ahwazna – Fifty lashes and unfair prison sentences issued against Ahwazi workers

Ahwazna  

Reliable sources from Ahwazna have reported that during the past few days, branch 103 of the general court in Mahshor city, has issued lashing and prison sentences against four Ahwazi Arab workers in Razi Petrochemical Company (RPC). The branch has issued 6 months in prison along with fifty lashes against each of the Arab workers. Those individuals have been firstly sacked of their jobs, while arrested afterward on the ground of staging protests and leading continued labor strikes.

It is said that the general court has issued its biased decision against the four Arab workers and accused them of acting against national security, and disturbing public security through stirring up violent actions. According to last year’s reports, so many Arab workers in the PRC who have received neither their salaries nor responses to their demands which led to decide   to stage protests and hold labor strikes to show their dissatisfaction with their condition.

In a related case, an Arab labor activist from Ahwaz who did not want to be named for security purpose said, “in the recent weeks hundreds of Ahwazi Arab workers in various workplaces have been discriminated against and subjected to mass expulsion from their jobs”. Also he said “We no longer need you is the only answer directed by private employers and state-owned companies to the questions of workers who have been wondering about their dismissal”.

He added that “the escalating oppressive policies on the poor Ahwazi Arab workers and their large –scale work expulsion are systematically carried out on the ground of race and ethnicity.  It clearly shows that Iran is violating its own labor law in article 6, 21, 24, and 25 which stress on people in Iran, of any tribe and ethnic group shall enjoy equal rights. Color, race, language and their likes shall not be treated as a privilege”.

The massive removal of Arabs from their jobs has sparked widespread rage among Arab workers because it is not an accidental issue. This action reveals the unabated flames of racial discrimination policies against the Ahwazi Arab people by the occupier regime. Granting job priority to Persian settlers while most of Ahwazi people are unemployed and live in a state of extreme poverty is very common.

This situation has inflicted irreparable impacts socially and economically on the Ahwazi Arab people.  It is very difficult to comprehend the sufferings and the level of poverty of this occupied nation. The work expulsion is not the only issue of the Ahwazi workers, but also they suffer from long-term non-payment of wages. The Arab workers face severe restriction of labor rights in the workplace occupied by Persians settlers who treat Arab workers as slaves not more.