On the eve of International Workers’ Day, Sanandaj Intelligence Office and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) telephone summoned a number of Kurdish labour activists in addition to threatening them not to attend any non-governmental event on this day.
“For several days now, as in previous years, security agencies have made threatening calls to at least 10 labour activists.” A labour activist in Sanandaj told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).
According to the source, on Wednesday, May 1, IRGC telephone summoned and interrogated Ramin Karimi, Yousef Geramiparvar, and Muzaffar Salehnia and warned them that they did not have a right to hold non-governmental ceremonies on International Workers’ Day in Sanandaj.”Sheis Amani and Sharif Saedpanah, members of the board of directors of the Free Trade Union of Iran and Shahla Delbina, were also telephone summoned to the Sanandaj Intelligence Office and interrogated for several hours today,” the source said.
It is said that a number of other labour activists in Sanandaj have also been threatened by security agencies over the phone.
Reports received from Sanandaj also indicate a large presence of special police forces on the city’s main streets. In recent years, Sanandaj has been one of the main venues for International Workers’ Day celebrations in Kurdistan and Iran.
