Condemn Assassination attempts Against Labour Activists in Iran!
Today, Thursday, October 18, 2007 at 9:00 AM in City of Sanandaj in Iran’s Kurdistan Province, three plain clothes agents who had covered their faces attempted to assassinate Mr. Majid Hamidi a labour activists in Sanandaj. Mr. Hamidi is a member of the Coordinating Committee to Form Workers’ Organization as well as a member of the Committee in Defence of Mahmoud Salehi. Various reports, including reports by the two above organizations, indicate that Mr. Hamidi was shot 7 times mostly in the arm and shoulder as well as his neck. Friends and neighbors immediately took Mr. Hamidi to the Sanandaj’s hospital, but since he was shot in neck doctors recommended that he should immediately get transferred to Tehran for surgery. He was transferred to the Amir Alam hospital in Tehran at 2:30 PM. Mr. Hamidi is in a very critical condition at the moment.
According to the Committee in Defence of Mahmoud Salehi, Mr. Hamidi himself has said that this is the least price workers and labour activists have to pay in Iran to achieve their demands and rights.
It’s also important to report that on October 17, 2007, a plain clothes agent had gone to the residence of Mr. Behzad Sohrabi, a well-known labour activist and the spokesperson for the Committee in Defense of Mahmoud Salehi and a member of the Coordinating Committee…; however Mr. Sohrabi was not at home at the time.
On Wednesday, August 29th, 2007, Mohammad Abdipour, one of the Saqez Seven labour activists, while taking his 7 year-old child to a hair salon, was attacked by someone named Omar Darwish Abdullah with a handgun. Mr. Abdipour was not harmed in this attack as he was rescued by people present in the area. In a statement on August 30th, the Committee in Defence of Mahmoud Salehi emphasized that this kind of attack, particularly with a gun, can only be done by the government forces and with their arrangement and consent.
These are extremely alaraming signs that need the immediate attention of the Iranian and the worldwide labour movements. We cannot allow these kinds of assassination attempts to continue. Iranian labour activists are already facing some of the harshest conditions in the world. They are sacked from workplaces, persecuted, kidnapped, jailed, exiled and beaten frequently. Their leaders, like Osanloo and Salehi, are being deprived of urgent and necessary medical treatments and continue to be incarcerated while their health is at great risk (Osanloo is in danger of being blinded and needs an immediate eye surgery and Salehi needs to be transferred to an appropriate hospital for treatment of his remaining kidney’s malfunctioning). Despite all this, workers in Iran persist in demanding their most basic rights such as the freedom of association and the right to organize and the immediate release of all jailed labour activists and an end to all harassment and persecutions of workers in Iran.
Please strongly condemn these assassination attempts on the life of Iranian labour activists in any possible ways you can.
More updates to follow.
Protest letters can be sent to:
Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
The Presidency,
Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection,
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: + 98 21 649 58 80
Email: [email protected]
Leader of the Islamic Republic:
Ayatollah Sayed *Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Shoahada Street
Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: [email protected] OR [email protected]
Fax: 011 98 251 7774 2228
Head of the Judiciary:
Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Justice Building
Panzdah-Khordad Square
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Fax: 011 98 21 3390 4986 (may be difficult to reach)
Email: [email protected]
Ambassador, Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations Institutions in Geneva, Chemin du Petit-Saconnex 28, 1209 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 733 02 03, E-mail: [email protected]
For more information, contact [email protected] or [email protected].
International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran
Background Information: www.workers-iran.org
http://www.etehadbinalmelali.com/INDEXI.htm