MEK Iran: Growing concern among regime officials that the rising numbers of protests will lead to another uprising.

Protests continue in cities and villages across Iran this week due to the snowballing effects of the regime’s corruption and mismanagement of the country’s economy. Farmers, teachers, municipal workers, looted investors, factory workers, villagers, nurses, and railroad workers are among the many groups who have staged rallies and demonstrations over the past weeks to demand basic rights.

Regime officials have tried and failed to suppress these protests in the past, and there is a growing concern among those in power that the rising tide of protests will lead to another uprising.

Water Shortages

Villagers in Razavi Khorasan Province in Northeast Iran protested the lack of drinking water in several villages. According to the protesters, more than 6,000 people in the province do not have drinking water in their homes. Despite repeated requests to local officials for help in resolving this issue, residents say they have been without water for fifteen years. The protesters are demanding an end to government neglect and indifference and immediate access to clean, potable water.

According to a local farmer, numerous officials have promised to address the problem but have failed to do so before leaving office. Another protester said that the problem has persisted despite population growth that has caused one of the villages to grow into a small town.

Without potable water, some women walk several miles from their homes each day to collect water for their families. Even this water is not clean and must be boiled before it is safe to drink.

Water shortages in Razavi Khorasan extend beyond drinking water. Farmers are forced to transport water to their fields in tankers in order to irrigate their crops. Some villages only have public showers for bathing, and even these facilities are being closed by regime officials.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Iran, residents of the southwestern province of Khuzestan face the same problem. Residents in a district near the city of Ahvaz are surrounded by oil wells but have no water to wash with or drink.

“We have no water, no nothing, as the novel coronavirus is spreading,” one resident said.

Another person described the residents’ attempts to solve the problem in the absence of government assistance: “We have dug a two-meter deep well. We have also installed a pump only to see water come up at 3 AM. We are awake 24 hours a day. We only sleep two hours a day.”

“This is all we have for our drinking water and the water we use to wash and bathe with,” a third resident added.

“We sit here from 6 AM until noon to provide water for our homes,” said one woman.

The (PMOI / MEK Iran) has written previously about the regime’s failure to provide water to its citizens. Clean water is a basic human right, and this human rights violation by the Iranian regime is often overlooked. It must be emphasized that the volume of the regime’s crimes must not outweigh our outrage at each of them. It should also be noted that protesting water shortages in Iran can lead to torture, imprisonment, or even execution. Not protesting can lead to death by disease or dehydration. There are no small human rights abuses.

Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Workers

On Thursday, June 18, factory workers from the Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Company in Shush, Khuzestan Province, entered the fourth consecutive day of protests outside the factory’s management office. The workers are demanding payment of their delayed wages, pensions, and insurance, as well as changes in the way the company is run. State-run media have reported that Haft-Tappeh is currently closed due to court procedures, but workers have vowed to strike once it reopens unless their demands are met.

Workers at Haft Tappeh went on strike in 2018 because of delayed wages and poor working conditions, as reported by the (PMOI / MEK Iran). The strike lasted for over two months and only ended after the Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) agents conducted a series of midnight raids on workers’ homes and violently dragged protesters from their beds. Despite the resulting torture and imprisonment of some of the workers, additional protests took place at Haft Tappeh in 2019.

Railroad Workers

On Tuesday, June 16, railroad workers in the Zagros district gathered outside of the company’s headquarters to demand their delayed wages and pensions. When their demands were not met, the protesters went on strike. Workers took over several company buildings during the initial rally, and work has ground to a halt since the strike began.

One striking worker explained his frustration. “The Zagros observatory committee is receiving money from the Tavros Company to pay off their own debts. All the while, the company’s own employees are suffering and living in poverty,” he said.