Sepideh Gholian is a student, social rights’ activists and journalist who was arrested on November 18th 2018 while she was supporting and reporting on the strike of the Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Workers in the city of Shush, over unpaid wages and alleged criminal activity by new private owners. Since her detention, Sepideh Gholian has been beaten and tortured inside the Iranian regime’s dungeons. Sepideh Gholian was finally freed on December 18th 2018 after a 500 million toman ($119,000) bail was put up. Iranian State TV broadcast a programme claiming that Sepideh Gholian and Esmail Bakhshi, another activists and labour protest leader who supported the Haft Tapeh strikers, had connections with Europe-based activists who "aim to topple the state".