A court in Iran has sentenced 42 workers of the Azarab factory, to lashes and prison for participating labor protests to demand months of unpaid wages.
The workers are from AzarAb Industries in Arak, a large manufacturing and construction company located in the western province of Markazi.
The state-run ILNA News Agency reported Wednesday that the 106th Branch of the Arak Criminal Court has sentenced each of the workers to 74 lashes and one month of free public service for three hours on the railway in Arak.
The state-run media said that the sentence can be appealed.
In the court ruling all the workers that protested against not receiving their basic demands and salaries, are charged with “disrupting public order by creating noise and controversy and blocking the streets and railways, and chanting slogans against officials.”
These workers had participated in a protest last year to demand their unpaid wages and an end to the company’s privatization.
In October 2019, Azarab workers who had been on strike were viciously beaten by riot police on October 20. Several people were injured and taken to hospital but discharged themselves for fear of being arrested.
Around 40 AzarAb workers were arrested and beaten during the peaceful demonstration.
Workers were demanding payment of overdue wages and a return to state-ownership of the industrial manufacturing company that constructs power and petrochemical plants.
