Fired Mahshahr Workers Set Themselves Alight

Two workers in the Iranian city of Mahshahr, in Khuzestan province, set themselves on fire this week in protest at their dismissal from their jobs. A report published today, 10 June, by the Free Trade Union of Iran, said that the workers had been employed by Farad Petrochemical for the past three years. Three previous attempted worker suicides have been reported in Iran since the beginning of the month.

Videos of the self-immolation attempts show colleagues of the workers intervening before serious injury could be sustained. The two workers were later taken to hospital.

The human rights news site HRANA reported earlier that a worker in Yasuj set himself alight after being unable to pay a debt of 10 million tomans. And the Iran Labor News Agency had also reported on the suicide by hanging of a worker who was stationed on an old road between Qazvin and Karaj. And two bakery workers in Mamasani, Fars province, ended their lives earlier this year after consuming poison.

Inflation and other economic pressures have made daily life increasingly difficult for Iranian households. Wages have not kept up, meanwhile, and many workers have also gone months without receiving their salaries. The suicide rate among workers has increased, as a result, across Iranian sectors.