"Iran’s Judiciary Evades Responsibility for Lashing Sentences against Striking Miners", 17 June 2016

After a month-long silence amid widespread condemnation of the decision by Iran’s Judiciary to intervene in a local labor dispute and punish 17 protesting mine workers with lashing sentences, the Judiciary’s spokesperson has finally spoken out by evading responsibility for the ruling...

Traditionally, local labor councils have handled labor disputes in the Islamic Republic, but the Judiciary has been increasingly inserting itself into the disputes, and has been criticized for siding with employers...

On December 27, 2014 a large group of workers from the village of Agh Darreh in West Azerbaijan Province gathered in front of the Agh Darreh gold mine’s guardhouse to protest the firing of 350 workers. That same day one of the sacked workers attempted suicide and was taken to hospital, but ultimately survived.

The Pouya Zarkan Company, which operates the mine, sued 17 of the workers at the rally for “disrupting public order.” They were found guilty and sentenced to prison, lashings and fined up to five million rials ($164 USD) each...