Four months have passed since the arrest of Yaser Ahmadinejad, a defense attorney and labor activist, who continues to serve a 42-month sentence of discretionary imprisonment (Habs-e Taziri) in Yasuj Prison, the capital of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province.
The Committee for Tracking the Status of Detainees reported that, following his arrest in February, Ahmadinejad was sentenced to three years and six months in prison and is currently being held at Yasuj Prison.
Yaser Ahmadinejad is a well-known union and labor activist from Khuzestan Province who previously played an active role in pursuing the demands of approximately 30,000 third-party contract workers of the National Iranian Drilling Company. He was dismissed from his job as a result of these activities; however, following widespread protests by oil industry personnel and continuous follow-ups, he was reinstated about a year later.
The defense attorney has a history of prior arrests and judicial persecution, having been detained multiple times during the protests of 2009, 2019, and 2022.
Following the January protests, Ahmadinejad was pursued by security forces for about a month before finally being arrested on February 5 at the home of one of his relatives in the city of Likak, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province. He is the father of two children, aged five and two.
The arrest and sentencing of Yaser Ahmadinejad are part of an ongoing judicial crackdown on union and labor activists in Iran. In recent years, dozens of labor activists, teachers, retirees, and labor defense lawyers have faced summonses, arrests, imprisonment, job dismissals, and social deprivation due to their union activities, participation in protest rallies, or pursuit of livelihood demands.
Human rights organizations have repeatedly stated that the use of security-related charges against union activists has become a tool to restrict the activities of independent organizations and exert pressure on civil actors. Conversely, officials of the Islamic Republic frame these crackdowns as measures to maintain public security and enforce the law.
