Demonstrations on December 4, 2010 in London, Paris and Toronto in support of jailed workers in Iran

 

Demonstrations

In Support of Iranian Labour Movement

In Support of Jailed Workers

 

The Islamic Republic of Iran has continuously aimed to crush the independent and autonomous Iranian labour organizations for many years. Labour activists have been beaten, injured, kidnapped, and have repeatedly been subjected to prosecutions and incarceration by the repressive Islamic Republic of Iran since its establishment 32 years ago.

 

In recent months, the regime has intensified prosecutions against a long list of labour activists: on 29 November 2010, Ali Akbar Nazri,  One of the members of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, was summoned to the public prosecutor’s office and was immediately arrested. He is now in the custody of the notorious Evin prison.  On November 23, 2010, another member of the Syndicate, Morteza Komsari, was arrested and is now locked in division 8 of Evin prison. Gholamreza Gholamhosseini, another member of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, was kidnapped on November 3, 2010 after being savagely beaten and injured by the Iranian security force. He is apparently in the custody of the Islamic intelligence ministry of Iran. Previously, on 11 October 2010 the Islamic Republic's security forces attacked Mr. Gholahosseni’s house, with the intention of arresting him, but he was not home at that time, therefore following terrorizing and harassing the members of his family and creating an atmosphere of fear, anxiety, and intimidation, they held one of his children hostage for 24 hours.

 

Sadigh Khosravi and Ibrahim Ismaili, two members of the “Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers' Organizations”, have also been incarcerated by the plain clothes security forces on 8 November in Kurdistan province. They have been taken them to an undisclosed location and even their families were informed of their whereabouts.

 

 The list of the prosecuted and jailed labour activists continues with Reza Shahabi, the Treasurer and board member of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, who was arrested on June 12, 2010, and is still in prison awaiting trial. The bail amount for Shahabi has been increased to 100,000,000 toman, but despite the efforts of his family members to deposit this amount the authorities nevertheless denied his release . Mr. Shahabi's interrogator has told Mrs. Robabeh Rezaie, the spouse of Mr. Shahabi Shahabi, that he has not cooperated with his interrogator and the judicial system and until and unless he does so he won’t be released.

 

Mr. Homayoon Jaberi, another member of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburb Vahed Bus Company, was arrested on November 9, 2010 and released subsequently on bail. His arrest was made while he was accompanying Mr.Gholamreza Gholamhosseni’s wife to the Information Ministry, to help her locate some information on her arrested husband that is still in the custody of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The security forces then Jaberi's house and confiscated his personal belongings. He was later released on 30 million toman bail on November 21, 2010 from Rajayee Shahr Prison.

 

On October 20, 2010, the security forces attacked the house of Mrs. Zoya Samadi, the daughter in law of Mr. Osanloo, the imprisoned president of the board of directors of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, once again and created another set of psychological warfare and disturbance for her and the members of her family.

 

Moreover, Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, a member of “The Committee to Pursue the Establishment of Free Workers Organizations”, has been incarcerated in Evin’s division of 350 since June 12, 2010. His Court on November 7, 2010 went into recess as the designated court’s judge did not bother to appear in the courthouse.

 

Two leaders and elected representatives of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company have been in prison for more than three years now; Mansour Osanloo the Syndicate's president of the board of director (serving a five year jail sentence) and Ebrahim Madadi, Vice-President (serving 3.5 year jail sentence). Furthermore, Mansour Osanloo has been sentenced to an additional year imprisonment by the City of Karaj Islamic Revolutionary Court on August 10, 2010 for "propaganda against the system".  Mr. Osanloo has been subject to increasing harassment in prison in recent months.

 

In addition, MR. Reza Rakhshan, the President of board of directors of Syndicate of Workers of Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company, has been sentenced to six month imprisonment on December 1, 2010 by branch 13 of the Court of appeal at Ahvaz in Iran for bogus charge of "spreading lies".

 

All these attacks on labour activist and independent labour organizations are taking place while the regime is aggressively implementing its cuts to subsidies to at least 16 basic needs of populations form gas, oil, water, heat to basis food products, which will lead to steep rise to the costs of products and services in the country. The working people and the poor communities in the country will experience even more deterioration of their quality of life as the result of these continuous and ever-increasing neo-liberal attacks on their working and living conditions.

 

The International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran and other labour and progressive organizations abroad have called for protest rallies in different countries in support of the labour movement in Iran and for the immediate and unconditional freedom of all Jailed workers and activists in Iran and invite all workers' organizations and activists and concerned individuals and groups to join these actions.

 

 

 

 

Please use the sample protest letters below to send your protest letters to the Iranian government authorities:

 

Sample Protest Letter (Updated December 1, 2010): Free all jailed workers now    I (we) am (are) writing this to demand an immediate and unconditional freedom of all jailed workers and labour activists in Iran. The persecution of labour activists in Iran must be stopped immediately.   I (we) demand immediate and unconditional freedom of members of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Vahed Bus Company, including Reza Shahabi who has been in jail since June 2010 without trial, Gholamhossein Gholamhosseini who has been incarcerated since November 3, 2010, Morteza Komsari, arrested on November 23, 3020, Ali Akbar Nazri, jailed since November 29, 2010, in addition to Mansoor Osanloo and Ebrahim Maddadi who have been in prison since 2007.   I also demand an immediate end to persecution of members of the Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers' Organizations and the and The Committee to Pursue the Establishment of Free Workers' Organizations.  Sadigh Khosravi and Ibrahim Ismaili, two members of the “Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers' Organizations” have been incarcerated since November 8, 2010 while many other members of this committee are facing jail terms. other labour activists. Behnam Ebrahimzadeh, a member of “The Committee to Pursue the Establishment of Free Workers Organizations”, has been incarcerated in Evin’s division of 350 since June 12, 2010.     In addition, MR. Reza Rakhshan, the President of board of directors of Syndicate of Workers of Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company, has been sentenced to six month imprisonment on December 1, 2010 by branch 13 of the Court of appeal at Ahvaz in Iran for bogus charge of "spreading lies".   I (we) condemn the continuous gross attacks on human and workers’ rights in Iran. I (we) demand the immediate and unconditional freedom of all labour activists and political prisoners and call on the government to respect the right to organize, assemble and freedom of association and expression.     Name: Organization: Position: Send Copy of your Protest Letters to: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] CC: [email protected]   International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran (IASWI) [email protected]  [email protected] www.etehadbinalmelali.com www.workers-iran.org