May 3, 2019
His Excellency Hassan Rouhani
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: [email protected]
Your Excellency,
On behalf of the NASUWT, the UK teachers’ union,
I write to protest in the strongest possible terms about the arrest and detention of students and trade union colleagues commemorating May Day in central Teheran on 1 May 2019.
The NASUWT is concerned that Iranian students and trade unionists, like their fellow trade unionists around the globe, were commemorating the achievement of labour rights first secured on May 1st 1886, which is recognised internationally. Our fellow Iranian colleagues have undertaken nothing more than to express their commitment to the twin principles of freedom and democracy in Iran, where workers should enjoy the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association as enshrined by the International Labour Organisation conventions, to which Iran is a signatory.
The NASUWT regrets that the actions against trade unionists on 1 May 2019 continue to represent the violation of internationally agreed workers’ rights.
The NASUWT calls on you to immediately release the following individuals 
and all other trade union leaders who have been imprisoned whilst undertaking lawful trade union activities:
Reza Shahabi
Hassan Saeedi
Vahid Fereydouni
Naser Moharamzadeh
Seyed Rasoul Taleb Moghaddam
Mohammad Ali Aslaghi
Asadollah Soleimani
Ms. Farahnaz Shiri
Keyvan Samimi
Kamyar Farkour
Mardas Taheri
Soleimani Nejad
Abbas Shams
Hadi Soleimani
Seyed Mehdi Azimi
Mahan Salehi
Ghasim Khaloui
Davoud Rafiei
Asadullah Soleimani
The NASUWT awaits your response to this urgent and serious matter.
Yours sincerely,
Chris Keates (Ms)
General Secretary