Iran

Marieme Helie Lucas, an Algerian socialist feminist, has written this open letter: to people of good will, solidarising with victims of the Christchurch massacre; to the New Zealand Prime Minister; and to the management of Mount Royal University, Calgary, Canada.

Esmail Bakhshi, a leader of the workers at the big Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane complex in south west Iran, has been in jail since 20 January.

His family says he is ill and not getting medical care. They fear for his life.

Sepideh Gholian, an activist and journalist who supported the sugar cane workers in a long-running series of strikes demanding unpaid wages and workers’ control over the enterprise, has also been jailed since 20 January.

It is thirty years since the publication of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses, partly based on the life of the founder of Islam, Muhammad, sparked protests across the Muslim world, with riots in India and Pakistan in which dozens of Rushdie's fellow Muslims were shot dead, book burnings on the streets of Britain, and ultimately an Iranian death sentence which sent its author into hiding under armed police guard.

Esmail Bakhshi and Sepideh Gholian, are still in Iran’s jails but Ali Nejati has been allowed into hospital. Bakhshi is a leader of the Haft Tappeh sugar¬cane workers, in south¬west Iran; Nejati, a former leader of those sugar¬cane workers; Gholian, a social activist and supporter of the workers. All three are known to have been tortured in jail, and their jailing is part of a response by the Iranian government to action by the sugar¬cane workers, and by steelworkers in nearby Ahvaz, which has seen dozens jailed and then released since late last year.

At 23:55 on Sunday 20 January, a large number of armed men in 15 SUV patrol cars descended on Esmail Bakhshi’s home and detained him.

Bakhshi is a representative of the Haft Tappeh sugar­cane workers, in south­west Iran, who have recently been in dispute over unpaid wages and control of the sugar­cane complex. He was previously jailed on 18 November, and released on bail on 12 December.

On 19 December, US president Donald Trump announced a snap decision to withdraw US troops from Syria. At first he said the troops would be out within 30 days, but now it looks like several months at least. The plan is now conditional on assurances from Turkey regarding the safety of the Kurds in Northern Syria.

Sepideh Gholian - student, social rights’ activists and journalist who was arrested on 18 November while she was supporting and reporting on the strike of the Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Workers - was freed from jail, on bail, on 18 December.

Esmail Bakhshi, a leading Haft Tappeh workers' representative of the Haft Tappeh workers, was released on 12 December.

Since Esmail Bakhshi, one of their elected representatives, was arrested on 18 November, the main demand of the workers of the Haft Tappeh sugar cane complex in south-west Iran has been his release. They are also demanding the immediate and unconditional release of Sepideh Gholian, a journalist and social rights activist, and Ali Nejati, one of the union’s former reps.

Esmail Bakhshi, the jailed union rep of the Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Workers in south-west Iran, and Sepideh Ghalian, an activist who has supported the workers, have been badly beaten in prison. After visiting them, their families have reported that both have been tortured and are in serious distress.