Iran sentences labor activist Esmail Gerami to five years jail, flogging
Esmail Gerami, a 67 year-old pensioner and labor activist was sentenced to prison and lashes for participating in protests held by pensioners for higher wages in Tehran.
The Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Mill Labor Syndicate reported on Wednesday that Esmail Gerami, one of the leaders in the nationwide pensioners protests, had been fined two million tomans in addition to imprisonment and flogging.
Labor activist Esmail Gerami was arrested on March 7 outside the Ministry of Labor in Tehran during peaceful nationwide pensioners’ protests and was released the next day.
He was once again arrested on April 3 by security forces in his home and was transferred to solitary confinement in the Greater Tehran Penitentiary also known as Fashafuyeh four days later. He has been in prison ever since.
The 36th Branch of the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced the labor activist Esmail Gerami to five years of prison, 74 lashes and a 2 million toman fine for “assembly and collusion against the state”.
Most Iranian workers and pensioners get a little over 2 million tomans a month.
The wife of Esmail Gerami has said that she was not allowed to visit her husband despite numerous attempts and inquiries at the Evin Court. Mrs. Rouhzadeh has also expressed concern over the health of her detained husband.
Iran’s use of degrading punishments against activists
The Iranian regime has a history of sentencing peaceful activists to lashes and hefty prison terms.
In late April 2021, two student activists were sentenced to a total of 72 lashes by the Shahroud Criminal Court in northern Iran. the two men were identified as 25-year-old Milad Nazeri and 26-year-old Seyed Shabir Hosseini Nik. Both are students at Shahroud University of Technology Central Campus.
On April 8, a female political prisoner was lashed in the notorious Qarchak Prison in Tehran, before going on leave. According to the Human Rights News Agency, 35-year-old Zohreh Sarv was lashed 74 times, despite the lashing sentence having been altered to a fine which she had paid for. She was told she could go on leave only on the condition that her flogging sentence was carried out.
In March, the 4th Branch of the South Khorasan Province Appeals Court in eastern Iran confirmed the three years and 40 lashes sentence for an internet activist. The 47-year-old man, identified as Hamidreza Adeli Far was sentenced to nine months of prison for “spreading propaganda against the state”, 18 months of prison and a 3 million tomans ($119) fine for “publishing lies on cyberspace” and another nine months of prison, lashes and a 3.375 million tomans ($134) fine for keeping 7.5L of alcoholic drinks.
The Islamic Penal Code continued to provide for corporal judicial punishment amounting to torture, including flogging, blinding and amputation. Scores of individuals were sentenced to flogging for theft and assault as well as for acts that, under international human rights law, should not be criminalized. These acts included participating in peaceful protests, engaging in extramarital relationships, attending mixed-gender parties and drinking alcohol.
