Detained labor activist Sepideh Qolian (Gholian) said in a voice message from the notorious Qarchak Prison in Varamin that she was tortured to make false confessions.
Her “confessions” and that of other labor activists detained during a weeks long Haft Tappeh Sugarcane workers’ protest last year, were broadcasted from state-run TV.
In her message from the women’s prison near Tehran, she said that her interrogator told her to participate in a documentary about how she was deceived into supporting Haft Tappeh sugarcane workers.
“He told me to go in front of the camera, with my unique appearance, hair color and any style of clothing and even without wearing a headscarf, and say that I was deceived,” she said in her audio message.
“Help us make a documentary about how you were deceived so that we can help you return to your family,” she was told.
Her interrogator threatened that if she did not cooperate, they would “never release her again”
Labor activist Sepideh Qolian and six others who were detained in relation to the Haft Tappeh labor protests in Shush, southern Iran, were recently sentenced to heavy prison terms.
Sepideh Qolian, journalist Amir Amirqoli, Asal Mohammadi, Amir Hossein Mohammadi Fard and his wife Sanaz Allahyari were each sentenced to 18 years of prison.
Before this, On August 13, seven workers of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Factory in the southwestern city of Shush were sentenced to eight months of suspended prison and 30 lashes each.
According to the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Syndicate, the workers were tried and sentenced by the 102ndBranch of the Shush Criminal Court.
On August 14, nine other Haft Tappeh Sugarcane workers were sentenced to eight months of prison and 30 lashes while another worker was acquitted. They were identified as Hossein Ansari Zadeh, Mohammad Khanifar, Feisal Sa’alobi, Sab Zahiri, Adel Samaie, Ismail Ja’adeleh, Bani Na’ami, Omid Azadi, Rostam Abdollahzadeh and Ali Bani Sadeh.
Last November, Haft Tappeh Sugarcane workers held gatherings, streets marches and protests for more than 20 consecutive days. They were protesting not receiving their paychecks and the privatization of the factory.
The Iranians regime uses torture, lashes and incarceration as the only way to stifle the voice of dissent.
Source » irannewswire