German firm threatens to sack workers demonstrating in Iran
Updated: Friday, July 31, 2009
Photographer: WashingtonTV
Rally in Tehran (17 June 2009)
11:00GMT—7:00AM/EST
Washington, 31 July (WashingtonTV)—A privately-owned German firm operating in Iran has warned its employees working there that they would be sacked if they take part in anti-government protests, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
According to the daily, Tehran pressured the company, Knauf Gips KG, to issue the order, after a 34-year-old senior executive was arrested two weeks ago, during Friday prayer demonstrations.
The Iranian government told Knauf, a drywall-manufacturing company with decades of business history in Iran, that the executive would only be released if it wrote to its employees warning them against demonstrations.
“We would like to remind all of our employees to remember that they are not only representing their private opinion when being politically active, but their actions could fall back negatively on our Knauf companies in Iran,” said the letter cited by the Journal.
“Therefore, from now on, if anybody from our company gets caught demonstrating against the current government, he or she will be immediately dismissed,” the letter, dated 21 July, said.
The author of the letter, Isabel Knauf – who is on the supervisory board of the company’s Iran operation – declined comment when contacted by the Journal, saying only that the situation was “very complicated.”
Germany, Iran’s third-largest trading partner, has been very critical of the violent crackdown on protesters following the disputed 12 June presidential election.
A German Foreign Ministry spokesperson contacted by the Journal said that Berlin wasn’t aware of the case, but added: “If it’s true that Germany companies are restricting or forbidding staff from demonstrating, then the German government doesn’t welcome it.”
Around 85 German companies have operations in Iran. A number of those companies, including Siemens AG and Daimler AG, said that the place no restrictions on employees’ political activities outside work hours.
Source: Wall Street Journal
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