Lashes and fine: 17 Iranian laborers pay for ‘disturbing people’s business’

Tehran, Iran, May 25

By Mehdi Sepahvand – Trend

Seventeen workers of the Iranian Agh-Darreh gold mine, who had been convicted of disrupting public business by illegal gathering, have faced their sentences

Their prison sentences were pardoned by the mine director as the plaintiff, but they had to pay cash fines and get lashed as yet other parts of their sentences, Vahid Yari, their lawyer, said, ILNA news agency reported May 25

Their sentences were put to action a few days ago and now they are all free, he noted

The 17 workers were also facing charges of destroying the uniform of and insulting the mining company’s guard, and damaging the company’s sign

Some of the workers had been given 150 lashes and five years in prison each, which were commuted to 50 lashes and 37 months imprisonment in revision

Other workers had been fined up to $150 each

The company downsized by 350 people in January 2015, after which the workers took to protests outside its premises

During the protests, one of the workers committed suicide

Source