Notes from Iran #3: Shoe thrower Rashid S. is likely to face execution

Two weeks ago we wrote about Rashid S. who had thrown his shoe at Ahmadinejad in an act of civil disobedience and disgust over his unemployment and the fact that he had not been paid by his employer for the last year he had been working.  According to news reports, Rashid Shahbandi had been arrested, has been tortured and is very likely facing execution.

There is no doubt that he will not get a fair trial, if he gets one at all. It will probably be one of those show trials the Islamic regime likes to put on, thinking that there are actually people out there believing that ‘justice’ is being done… when all that is happening is that the Islamic regime is trying to keep its power by spreading and inflicting more violence and more terror.

Throwing your shoe at a leader of a dictatorial regime is nothing but couragous. We can only imagine under what pressure people like Mr Shahbandi must live to lose their fear of confronting their oppressor. No doubt the regime will try to hand down a heavy sentence to deter others from showing and voicing their anger. But it is too late for that. It was too late for that a long time ago.

Notes from Iran #2: Hail the shoe thrower Rashid S.

Rashid S., a recently sacked textile worker in his 40s, threw his shoe at Ahmadinejad at a meeting in the northern province of Mazandaran on Tuesday, 13 December. Rashid S. was protesting the fact that he had been sacked, but more importantly that he had not been paid for the last year of working in the factory.

This is of course is common practice in Iran. There are thousands upon thousands of workers in Iran who do their daily work without being paid for it by the state or private owners for months on end.

You might ask why they keep working? They hope they will get paid in the future as promised by their bosses and more importantly, there is no other work around, neither is there unemployment benefit. That of course under a regime that made 40 billion US Dollars between March and August this year alone from oil exports. The same regime whose members are transferring their 'accumulated' monies abroad, especially through their family members. High on the list are investments like the purchase of expensive properties (they can afford it of course) which guarantees few questions and a preferential residential status by the host country; the higher the investment the warmer the welcome. And with all the riches that are to be made exploiting Iran's natural resources and the labour force, a warm welcome they get.

Rashid S. missed. He was thrown to the floor and beaten up. It is unclear whether he was arrested and taken away. His act of civil outrage is to be applauded.