Reza Shahabi, a leading member of an independent trade union in Iran, who has been detained since May 12, started a hunger strike in protest at his continued detention.
A board member of the Union of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (Sherkat-e Vahed), Shahabi was arrested on May 12.
Intelligence Ministry officers arrested him shortly after he publicly called on the authorities to investigate death threats against him and his family.
On May 17, state television alleged that Shahibi and other labor activists had met with two French nationals — 37-year-old Cecil Kohler and her 69-year-old partner, Jacques Paris — who were arrested the day after Shahibi and accused of seeking to stir up unrest in Iran.
The allegations come as the country’s security forces have resorted to force to suppress anti-government protests in cities outside Tehran against skyrocketing inflation and the government’s recent decision to cut some subsidies, leading to the reported deaths of at least five demonstrators.
The union representing the striking bus workers on May 17 accused the authorities of “trying to break the strike by intimidating and in some cases persecuting and arresting workers.”
In an apparent reference to the anti-government demonstrations, the Free Trade Union of Iran also said on Twitter that “the government is looking for a permanent solution, i.e., repression, prosecution, arrest, spreading lies” to quell the unrest.
