Two Iranian women were punished by flogging last week for their participation in May Day celebrations last year. The women, Sussan Razani and Shiva Kheirabadi, are two of four labor activists convicted and sentenced as a result of the celebration. Similar sentences were carried out last year in relation to workers who had celebrated May Day in 2007.
International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran spokesperson Hadi Ghaemi said that “these inhumane and barbaric floggings demonstrate an utter disregard for the rights of Iranian citizens by a hardliner clique inside the Judiciary, who are determined to drag Iran’s human rights record to new lows.”
According to the Campaign for Peach and Democracy, two trade union leaders are also currently imprisoned and women’s rights activists, particularly those involved in the One Million Signatures Campaign continue to be targeted and prosecuted.
