On Sunday, July 7, 2024, retirees from various sectors including Social Security, government, steel, and telecommunications gathered in cities and provinces such as Tehran, Kermanshah, Ahvaz, Shush, Mazandaran, and Khuzestan to hold protest rallies. Some of the common slogans in these gatherings were against the economic conditions of the retirees, such as: “Expensive prices, inflation, the scourge of the people,” “Enough oppression and injustice, our table is empty,” “Down with servitude, long live life,” and “Our pain is your pain, join us.”
In addition, slogans reflecting retirees’ protests against corrupt rulers and managers were also chanted, such as: “Both the parliament and the government lie to the people,” “Neither threats nor prisons have any effect,” “Retiree, shout out, demand your rights,” and “Our rights are only achieved on the streets.”
During one of these gatherings, it was mentioned that changing a single figure within this system cannot fulfill our neglected demands unless we, the retirees, stand on our own feet and establish our independent organizations to achieve them. Furthermore, the retirees also chanted political slogans calling for the release of imprisoned workers and teachers. Brave activists specifically called for the freedom of labor activist Sharifeh Mohammadi in several retiree rallies on this day.
Condemnation of the execution sentence for Sharifeh Mohammadi, a free labor activist, and demands for her immediate and unconditional release were also made by independent labor organizations, democratic organizations, and freedom-fighting individuals. In a statement issued on Saturday, July 6, by the Sugarcane Workers Syndicate of Haft-Tappeh, the Retirees’ Union, the Coordinating Committee to Help Establish Workers’ Organizations, and retired workers from Khuzestan, they stated: “All conscientious people, all freedom-loving individuals, and all workers and toilers condemn the execution sentence against Sharifeh Mohammadi and any other freedom-fighter and will spare no effort for their immediate and unconditional release from unjust imprisonment.”
Mahmoud Salehi, a prominent leader of the Iranian labor movement, who is undergoing surgery and hospitalized, in an interview with Radio Payam Canada, defended the “Coordinating Committee for the Establishment of Workers’ Organizations,” highlighting its history as an independent, open, and legal organization. He condemned the execution sentence for Sharifeh Mohammadi for her membership in this organization as an attempt to intimidate labor activists and called for her immediate release and an end to the pressure on labor activists.
A group of activists under the name “Council Tendency” abroad, in a statement issued on July 7, condemned the execution sentence for Sharifeh, a dedicated and well-known labor activist, and called for organizing a global campaign for her immediate and unconditional release. They emphasized that this campaign should be part of the broader struggle for the freedom of all political prisoners.
Reyhaneh Ansari-Nejad, a labor activist from Evin Prison, in a statement on Sunday, July 7, regarding the unjust execution sentence for Sharifeh Mohammadi, wrote: “The execution sentence for Sharifeh Mohammadi, a labor activist, by an unjust court in Rasht on the eve of the presidential election sends a clear message to workers, women, social activists, and all people; it does not matter what name they pull out of their ballot box as president, the policy of the 46-year-old Islamic Republic remains the same, defending the interests of capitalists and relentless suppression of workers!” In another part of the statement, she wrote: “Sharifeh Mohammadi is a labor advocate. Because of being a woman and her family’s labor background, and witnessing the suffering of workers and women like herself, she has always had a concern for justice. Her crime is having the courage to fight for her own and her fellow workers’ rights. Her crime is knowing workers from Kurdistan and considering them as her comrades. She was once a member of the Coordinating Committee to Help Establish Workers’ Organizations. The statement concludes: “If membership in the Coordinating Committee constitutes rebellion, then it applies to me as a member of this committee as well! End this ridiculous scenario. Sharifeh Mohammadi’s crime is being a worker and living a virtuous life. Sharifeh Mohammadi must be released unconditionally and immediately.”
Fighting retirees, who are an active, persistent, and hopeful part of the Zhina revolutionary movement, have added the slogan “Sharifeh Mohammadi must be freed!” to their other slogans, becoming one of the pioneers of the campaign for the freedom of Sharifeh and other political prisoners.
