Wife of labor rights activists Jafar Azimzadeh, has been threatened by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) to report her husband.
Two undercover Intelligence and Security agents went to the house of the family of Azimzadeh on October 24, 2018, instructing his wife Akram Rahimpour and his family to inform the Intelligence Department when he returned home, otherwise they would be in trouble.
This is the third time in seven months that MOIS agents have referred to Ms. Akram Rahimpour in the city of Showt (Maku Free Zone), West Azerbaijan Province in Iran.
Akram Rahimpour has been intimidated and threatened to turn in her husband while none of the official institutes, including the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office, have summoned the labor activist since March, either orally on the phone or by a written warrant.
Azimzadeh, the president of the Free Workers Union of Iran, was arrested on April 30, 2014—a day before International Labor day for helping coordinate the collection of 30,000 signatures from workers in support of a list of demands including the formation of the Free Workers Union of Iran and the Union of Expelled and Unemployed Workers, as well as for organizing labor protests and speaking to foreign media outlets.
He was freed on bail after being interrogated and held in solitary confinement for 46 days.
On March 1, 2015 Azimzadeh was sentenced reduced from an original 17 year sentence for “assembly and collusion against national security” and “propaganda against the state.” The Appeals Court upheld the sentence and the labor activist surrendered himself to Evin Prison on November 8, 2015.
After nearly eight months, he and Esmail Abdi, an imprisoned teacher, and
former secretary general of the ITTA, went on hunger strike to protest the regime’s approach to legitimate trade activities as national security threat.
Widespread domestic and international support and 63 days of hunger strike led to the temporary release of the activists.
