RFERL:

Relatives of labor activists currently held incommunicado by Iran’s authorities, report they have been warned to keep quiet about their loved ones’ imprisonment.

Family members of Esmail Bakhashi and Ms. Sepideh Qolyan say they received phone calls from the Intelligence Department of the city of Shush in Iran’s oil-rich Khuzestan Province warning them to keep quiet “or else.”

Bakhshi is the spokesman for the independent trade union of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane industrial complex, which has seen repeated strikes and protests in recent months, with workers demanding back pay and better conditions. Qolyan is a labor rights activist and journalist. Both were first arrested November 18 during protests at the complex along with more than a dozen other activists and workers.

Bakhshi and Qolyan were released December 12 after eighty international labor organizations signed a letter addressed to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for the release of all peacefully protesting workers.

After alleging abusive treatment while in detention, the two were arrested again January 20 and their families have not heard from them since.

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