Two More Workers In Iran Set Themselves On Fire Due To Economic Hardship

While people in Iran face severe economic hardship induced by corruption, mismanagement and sanctions, two more cases of self-immolations were reported in the country. 

The recent cases happened in the northern city of Lahijan and western city of Ilam due to financial hardships the victims faced. The prosecutor of Lahijan, Ebrahim Ansari, said on Sunday that one of the workers of the city’s water and wastewater management company set himself on fire in protest to his suspension by the contracting company. 

Hengaw Organization for Human Rights also reported that a 30-year-old man, identified as Jamil Valibaygi, set himself on fire because of financial pressures. 

In June, two workers in Bandar-e Mahshahr in the southwestern province of Khuzestan also set themselves on fire in protest to their dismissal. They survived thanks to prompt intervention by their coworkers. Earlier, a worker in the city of Yasuj, the capital of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, set himself on fire over his inability to pay a debt of about 10 million tomans, or $300. 

Earlier in the year, a biology teacher killed himself in the city of Minab in the southern province of Hormozgan over economic problems. In recent months, there have been other reports about teachers committing suicide due to financial problems, including Gholamabbas Yahyapour, a mathematics teacher from the city of Gerash in the Fars province who killed himself late in 2021.

Food prices have risen by more than 80 to 100 percent in recent months, on top of high inflation in the previous three years, while most wage earners get less than $200 a month.