THE REGIME OF FLOGGING, EXECUTION AND REPRESSION MUST BE  BOYCOTTED WORLDWIDE

On November 26, the Islamic Republic of Iran flogged Mr Davood Rafiei, a fired worker from the Pars Khodro Company (car manufacturing), 74 times for protesting against dismissal, unemployment and poverty. The Islamic Republic, this regime of flogging, imprisonment and execution; must be politically boycotted worldwide.

Davood Rafiei is one of the well-known workers. He was prosecuted for defending his colleagues during Pars Khodro workers’ protests against dismissals. Due to his great popularity among the workers, he was repeatedly offered a bribe of several million tomans by the corrupt managers of Pars Khodro, as well as the Minister of Labour in order to withdraw his support for the workers' protests, but Davood Rafiei did not accept it and  stood by the workers. He was arrested several times under various pretexts, including for participating in an International Workers' Day gathering, and was later released on bail. In protest of his dismissal from the factory, Davood Rafiei staged several sit-ins in front of the Ministry of Labour building in Tehran. In these protests, he took a placard and revealed that Ali Rabiee had offered him a bribe of 200 million Tomans to encourage him to remain silent. He intensified his protest against the attack on his life and livelihood with another placard that read, "Death to Rabie, Minister of Labour." 

This is the crime of Davood Rafiei! He was flogged for exposing the Minister of Labour, protesting his dismissal, and defending workers' rights. This is how the Islamic government behaves.

Flogging, this heinous form of Islamic punishment, is a part of the Islamic Republic's judicial system. Earlier, floggings were carried out by the regime against three workers at the Aq Dareh mine in north-west Iran, and this arrogant act by the regime sparked a wave of protests in the society, in the extent that they were forced to dismiss the director general of the Labour Department of West Azerbaijan Province who had directly ordered this punishment. In addition, we have witnessed several cases in which protesting women and youths who stood up against the regime's Islamic reactionary laws and removed their compulsory hijabs were punished with floggings.

The Campaign to free jailed workers in Iran (Free Them Now!), expresses its disgust with this barbarism and brutality and calls on everyone to join the campaign against the flogging of Davood Rafiei by signing this statement. In this campaign, we lay emphasis on the following urgent demands:

1-The Islamic Regime is absolutely not the representative of the Iranian people, rather their suppressor and murderer. This regime of flogging, torture, imprisonment and execution must be boycotted worldwide. This regime, which violates the most basic civil rights of the people, must be expelled from all international institutions, including the International Labour Organization.

2- Flogging, this heinous punishment of the age of savagery, should be banned altogether.

3- All prison sentences and floggings for workers, teachers and social activists should be overturned and the security files against them should be annulled. Political prisoners must be released immediately and unconditionally.

4- We declare our full support and sympathy for Davood Rafiei, and state that he must return to work immediately.

Campaign to free jailed workers in Iran (Free Them Now)!

November 27, 2020, http://free-them-now.com

http://free-them-now.com/wp-admin/post.php

You can find the support signatures in this link:

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