The criminal Regime of the Islamic Republic has
severely tortured a labour activist to the brink of
death
Dear Comrades,
It is more than two months that the workers of Haft Tapeh Sugarcane Agro Industrial Company in the Khuzistan Province of Iran have been protesting on the
streets against their months-overdue wages and privatization of the
Company. T he Company was sold by the
regime of the Islamic Republic to private sector. The striking workers demand
the return of the company to public sector.
The
strike by the workers of the Sugarcane Company has attracted the support of
striking workers of the Steel Company in the city of Ahwaz, the striking
teachers, retirees, university students and many other sectors of the society.
Esmail Bakhshi, a prominent
member of Haft Tapeh Sugarcane syndicate and a
spokesperson of the protesting workers, was arrested, together with more than
twenty other worker-activists, by the Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and
Security on November 18, 2018. In incarceration, Esmail
was put under harsh physical and psychological torture, beating him, breaking
his ribs, damaging his ear and kidneys and testicles, and giving him
psychedelic drug. He was released after 25 days, physically in pain but strong
in morale.
On
January 6, 2019, Esmail Bakhsi
issued a statement on his Instagram post, giving the
account of his torture in some details:
“During the 25 days that I was unjustly imprisoned by the
Intelligence Ministry, I subdued different tortures, and I still haven’t been
able to get over them and need to take pain and neurological medication. In the
first days, I was tortured to the brink of death and beat and kicked me without
saying a word or giving any specific reason. I couldn’t move in my cell for 72
hours and they had beaten me so badly that even sleep was painful due to the
severity of the pain……”
In his letter, Esmail
addresses Mahmoud Alavi,
the head of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, demanding a live
television debate on why he was tortured to the brink of death. “They
had beaten me so much that even sleeping was excruciatingly painful for me; and
today, nearly two months after those hard days, I still feel severe pain in my
broken ribs, kidneys, left ear and testicles.”
In his post, Esmail states that the female journalist Sepideh
Qolian, who was arrested at the same time, was
physically tortured and faced with vulgar and abusive sexual language.
Esmail Bakhshi also accused the government of tapping his phone
before his arrest and listening in on his private conversations.
Esmail Bakhshi’s
letter to the Minister of Intelligence is widely circulated and received a
significant mainstream and social media attention.
After publishing the details of the
torture of a labour activist, the regime of the
Islamic Republic was forced to react to the event. And as usual, the Security
forces put the victim under pressure to deny the torture. Esmail Bakhshi and his family are under a very harsh pressure by
the Ministry of Intelligence to recant the letter and deny the account of
torture.
The fact is that the capitalist
regime of the Islamic Republic has been using torture in the past 40 years
against political activists and political prisoners. The Intelligence and
Security forces use torture as a method to force the activists to make false
confession of “disrupting the public order” and of “plotting against the
national security”. They use torture to break the spirit of the political
prisoners.
Today, the criminal regime of the
Islamic Republic is trying to break the courageous resistance of the prominent
worker-activist Esmail Bakhshi
who holds the banner for bread, freedom, and social justice. The people of Iran
will not be silent on the crimes of the Islamic regime that has brought misery
and darkness to the society. We will not let the regime to live in peace. We
will decisively protest and expose the crimes of the regime and will be a voice
for our worker comrade Esmail and other labour activists.
The Party of Labour
of Iran (Toufan) informs our fraternal sister and
brother parties and organizations in the International Conference of the Marxist-Leninist Parties and
Organizations (ICMLPO) of the crimes committed against Esmail
Bakhshi and calls on them to condemn the regime of
the Islamic Republic in any form possible and express solidarity with the
working class of Iran.
The campaign of solidarity with the
Iranian labour activists Esmail
Bakhshi and other imprisoned labour
and political activists will not stop until the Islamic regime confess to its
long list of crimes. We, together with our fraternal comrades, who have been
fighting for socialism and against capitalism, imperialism and reaction, will
continue our contribution to build and strengthen this solidarity
campaign.
The
Capitalist Regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hands off Esmail Bakhshi and his Family!
Long Live the
Solidarity with Esmail Bakhshi
and other worker-activists in Iran!
The Party of Labour of Iran (Toufan), the office of International Relations
January 7, 2019.