Soaring Prices Pose Immense Burden On Daily Life - Labor Activist
An Iranian labor activist has raised concerns over the increasing prices of red meat and chicken putting increased pressure on household incomes.
An Iranian labor activist has raised concerns over the increasing prices of red meat and chicken putting increased pressure on household incomes.
Eid-Ali Karimi, Executive Secretary of Qazvin Labor House, made the comments amid the government's delay in holding the meeting of the Supreme Labor Council, which plays a crucial role in determining workers' salaries in the state-controlled economy.
Karimi criticized, "red meat is over 5,000,000 rials ($10) per kilogram, and chicken is over 1,000,000 rials ($2). The increase in these prices places an immense burden on workers." He emphasized that the rising costs of essential items have made it increasingly challenging for households to make ends meet.
"If a worker wants to buy three kilograms of red meat and five kilograms of chicken to feed his family of four per month, he has to spend more than a quarter of his salary. This leaves little room for covering basic expenses like rent, daily necessities, and education for his children," Karimi said.
Officials have stated that the monthly minimum wage, currently less than $150, only suffices for nine days of a family's livelihood. The resulting financial struggles for workers and their families are further exacerbated by soaring inflation rates.
Furthermore, house rents have surged by more than 100%, leaving many workers with a major portion of their earnings dedicated only to housing costs. Karimi noted that this situation forces workers to take on multiple jobs, often working long hours, just to cover basic living expenses.
Tabassom Jamalpour, who was arrested on July 17 for publishing a photo of herself without the compulsory veil in front of a religious mourning procession center, has been subjected to physical abuse and sexual harassment whist in a “safe house”, according to reports by Iran Prison Atlas.
The reports allege that agents forced her to remove her clothes, saying "You should be naked like the picture you published..." before beating and stripping her and touching her breasts.
Jamalpour was then transferred to Ward 209 of Evin Prison, where she endured consecutive days of interrogation. The charges brought against her include "insulting Islam" and "spreading corruption and prostitution."
At the time of her arrest, another woman who was also not wearing a headscarf and a man wearing shorts were also detained. Their whereabouts and well-being remain unknown.
There have been a spate of accounts of violence and sexual abuse against detainees, particularly during the uprising of Iranians against the clerical regime following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.
In February 2022, the Guardian published a report quoting 11 male and female protesters saying that they were "raped, sexually assaulted, beaten and tortured" by the security forces of the Islamic Republic during their detention.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), said Wednesday that inaction by the international community has emboldened the Islamic Republic authorities to extend their execution spree beyond Iran’s borders.
His remarks came as a reaction to repeated insistence by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several other regime officials for the execution of the Sweden-based Iraqi immigrant Salwan Momika who burned pages from the Quran in front of the central mosque in Stockholm on the first day of Eid al-Adha in June.
After obtaining a permit from a Swedish court and in front of approximately 200 onlookers Momika, tore up a copy of the Quran, wiped his shoes with the pages, put bacon on the book and set it on fire whilst another protester addressed the crowds with a megaphone. Momika repeated the desecration in front of the Iraqi embassy in Stockholm on July 20. The following day, in neighboring Denmark, members of the far-right nationalist group "Danske Patrioter (Danish Patriots)" burned a copy of the Quran in front of Iraq's Embassy in Copenhagen.
Amiry-Moghaddam referred to the hanging of two Iranians in May for insulting religious entities, saying that "Unfortunately, the lack of appropriate response from the international community regarding the execution of one person on the charge of adultery and two people on the charge of sacrilege has emboldened the leaders of the Islamic Republic to issue similar sentences and even threaten to execute European citizens."
Iran's Supreme Leader called for the severest punishment for the perpetrators of the Stockholm Quran burning. Ali Mohammadi-Sirat, the Supreme Leader’s man in IRGC’s Quds (Qods) Force -- a division primarily responsible for extraterritorial military and clandestine operations -- repeated Khamenei’s demands and stressed that these men will not be safe wherever they are. Earlier this month, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Commander Hossein Salami also threatened attacks against those responsible for the incident, saying that those who burn or desecrate the Quran will not enjoy security.
The regime’s judiciary claimed Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli-Zare' were running dozens of online anti-religion platforms dedicated to the hatred of Islam, the promotion of atheism and insults to sanctities, however, in earlier reports the charges were mainly related to one Telegram channel. Mizan, the judiciary’s news agency, also claimed they had burnt copies of the Quran, and they had confessed to their blasphemy. Their families and rights activists said the confessions were extracted under duress, which has proven to be the case in numerous confessions by the regime.
Amiry-Moghaddam added, “The international community should not tolerate the execution of human beings because of consensual sex or expression of opinion in the 21st century by the governments that have a seat in the United Nations.” In April, a man was executed in the city of Karaj after being charged for having an affair with a married woman. In the Islamic Republic’s law, adulterers can be sentenced to lapidation -- or stoning to death -- if one or both people are married. Nowadays, the regime just hangs them.
According to a report released earlier in July, in the last 10 years, the regime has executed approximately 5,000 people, including dozens of children. The report by Dadgostar, the news agency of US-based Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA), highlighted the concerning trend of an average of 10 citizens being executed every week since May of the current year. Since the beginning of 2023, the regime has executed at least 307 people with 142 hangings in May alone, hitting a dark record even for the Islamic Republic.
Amiry-Moghaddam told Iran International in June, “The purpose of the Islamic Republic’s intensification of arbitrary executions is to spread fear in society to intimidate people against holding further protests, thus prolonging its rule,” adding that “if the international community doesn’t show a stronger reaction to the current wave of executions, hundreds more will fall victim to their killing machine in the coming months.”
The Islamic Republic has intensified its killing trend in recent months, with at least seven protesters hanged since nationwide protests broke out in September 2022 following the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. The unrest posed the biggest internal challenge to the Islamic Republic since its establishment in 1979.
