Mahmoud Salehi has fully stopped his hunger strike

 

March 31, 2008- According to the Committee in Defense of Mahmoud Salehi, http://kdmahmodsalehi.blogfa.com, Mahmoud was transferred to court on March 29, 2008 where he presented his final defense regarding charges that he is facing. He was then taken back to the Sanandaj’s Prison.

 

Mahmoud’s family met him in court and once again asked him to stop his hunger-strike and informed him about all the requests and appeals, and solidarity hunger-strikes, in Iran and abroad thus convincing him to completely end his hunger strike.

 

Mahmoud who has finished his one year sentence as of March 23rd is facing new charges and his release has been on hold despite his serious illness. There have been numerous protests in Iran and abroad for his immediate and unconditional release.

 

Mahmoud Salehi was on a total (dry) hunger strike since March 17, 2008. He ended his dry hunger strike on March 24th after meeting with his wife and family members but immediately began a wet hunger strike.  The Committee in Defense of Mahmoud Salehi reports that there are new charges against Salehi in addition to ‘communicating with those outside prison for the purposes of issuing messages of solidarity ...’ They are also charging Salehi in relaton to two incidents during which there were protests in prison agianst the quality and quantity of food and the prisoners’ refusal to eat as well a protest action by the prison’s inmate cleaners for a better weekly pay.

  

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For more info: IASWI: Email: [email protected] / www.workers-iran.org

 

Act NOW!
Iran: Release jailed workers, respect rights

http://www.labourstart.org/iran 

You can access all Amnesty International publications featuring Mahmoud Salehi by accessing:

http://www.amnesty.org/en/ai_search?keywords=mahmoud+salehi&op=Search&form_id=search_these_form&form_token=442cd6aa1c494032e672ae11f528bc82

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You can also use the following sample letter:

 

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]

 

I am writing this letter to express my outrage over new charges against Mahmoud Salehi, who has been in Sanadaj’s central prison since April 9, 2007. Mr. Salehi, a founding member and the former President of the Bakery Workers’ Association of the city of Saqez and a well-known labour activist in Iran, has been sentenced unjustly to one year imprisonment and a three year suspended prison sentence for his labour activities.

 

On Monday, March 17, 2008, the judiciary authorities in Sanadaj charged Mahmoud with connecting with outside prison and sending solidarity messages to progressive students and other prisoners. They put Mahmoud under temporary arrest while he was supposed to be released from prison on March 23, 2008. In response to this unjust order, Mahmoud Salehi has declared hunger strike effective immediately. It’s very important to emphasize that Mr. Salehi is currently suffering from a life-threatening kidney disease. He only has one kidney, and that kidney is functioning at about only 10 percent of capacity.

 

I am writing this to condemn this outrageous action on the part of your government and calling on you to release Mahmoud Salehi immediately and unconditionally as he is a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for the peaceful exercise of organizing the 2004 May Day demonstration and his right to freedom of expression and association in connection with his labour rights activities. I also demand that Mansour Osanloo as well as all other labour and student activists are released immediately and unconditionally.

 

Name

Organization

position

 

Send Copy of your Protest Letters to:

 

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]