The Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in Saqqez has referred the case of the prominent labour activists Mahmoud Salehi and Osman Esmaeili to the Islamic Revolutionary Court of the city, four days after the arrest of the activists.
Salehi and Esmaeili were arrested in Saqqez on 16 May for their social media activities on International Workers’ Day and were accused of “propaganda against the state”.
“Mahmoud Salehi and Osman Esmaeili have, so far, refused to pay the 40 million [Iranian] Tomans [nearly 1,600 USD] of bail, and Branch 3 of the Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in Saqqez said yesterday that it referred the case of these people to the Islamic Revolutionary Court of this city on charges of propaganda against the state”, a source close to the activists told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).
According to the source, the two labour activists have refused to accept that defending workers’ rights is a crime and have refused the accusation of “propaganda against the state” through celebrating International Workers’ Day against themselves. Therefore, in order to object to the filing of the case, they have refused to pay the bail.
The source further stated that the detentions of the activists continue at the time that Mahmoud Salehi needs to be hospitalised and be on dialysis every week due to kidney disease, and Osman Esmaeili suffers from severe asthma and a heart problem. On 18 May, Salehi has been taken to a hospital outside prison for dialysis and returned to prison.
Mahmoud Salehi and Osman Esmaeili have been repeatedly summoned and imprisoned by the security institutions and the judiciary in the past years for their labour activities and celebrating International Workers’ Day.
