More arrests of labour activists
Ali-Akbar Pirhadi arrested
According to the latest news in Iran. Mr. Ali-Akbar Pirhadi, a member of the board of directors of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Vahed Bus Company, was arrested on Thursday, February 19, 2009 by the intelligent forces and taken to the custody. The reason for his arrests is not clear at this moment. Two leaders of the Vahed Syndcate, Mansour Osanloo and Ebrahim Madadi, President and vice-president of the Syndicate’s board of directors, are currently imprisoned with lengthy prison sentences.
Rahim Beshagh arrested
According to a report by the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company Workers’ Syndicate, Mr. Rahim Beshagh, a member of the board of directors of the Haft Tapeh Syndicate, was arrested on February 22, 2009. Mr. Beshagh who had gone to the court in city of Shoush for a private matter, was ordered by the judge to go to the intelligent office for questions regarding the Syndicate and his opposition to the Islamic Labour Council, which is a pro-government/pro-employer association in the workplace to control labour activities. There is no news yet about Mr. Beshagh’s situation as of this time.
Sample Protest Letter (updated February 22, 2009)
I am writing to strongly protest against persecution and repression of labour activists in Iran.
- Mr. Mansour Osanloo, the president of the board of directors of the Syndicate of Tehran and Suburb Bus Company, sentenced to five years imprisonment, incarcerated since July 2007. Mansour Osanloo was kidnapped by plain clothes agents in the evening of Tuesday, July 10, 2007. Osanloo has been beaten numerous times by security forces. He has some serious health problems.
- Mr. Farzad Kamangar, a 33 year old teacher and union and human rights activist from Kurdistan province. He has been sentenced to death by the Iranian government and has been severely tortured. Despite international protests his execution sentence has not been revoked.
- Mr. Ebrahim Madadi, the vice-president of the board of directors of the Syndicate of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company. Mr. Madadi has been arrested a number of times before. The latest arrest took place in the North Branch of the Employment office in Tehran on December 27, 2008. Mr. Molayee, Maddi’s lawyer, has told the BBC Persian that Mr. Madadi has been arrested according to a court order issued by division 14 of the Islamic Revolution Court according to which he has been sentenced to three and half years of imprisonment for “acting against the national security” and “propaganda against the system” . However, Mr. Molayee reports that the court order was never given to him or Mr. Madadi, thus they did not have a chance to appeal it. The court claims that they had verbally informed Mr. Madadi about it when he was detained for another case previously. Mr. Madadi had spent about 4 months in prison last year. Mr. Madadi is currently detained in Evin prison.
- Mr. Pedram Nasrolahi, who is a member of the Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers’ Organizations in Kurdistan, arrested on December 24, 2008.
- Mr. Salam Ghaderi labour activists and member of the Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers’ Organizations in city of Marivan. He was arrested on February 7, 2009. As of this date, there is not information about his whereabouts.
- Mr. Khaled Asadi, labour activists and member of the Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers’ Organizations in City of Marivan. He was arrested on February 7, 2009. As of this date, there is not information about his whereabouts.
- Mr. Azad Hosseini, labour activist in city of Marivan, arrested on February 7, 2009.
- Mr. Borhan Saeedi, a labour activist and member of the Women’s Council, an independent non-profit organization, in the city of Sanandaj, arrested on January 14, 2009. He is detained in Sanandaj’s Central prison. He suffers from heart problems.
- Mr. Ali-Akbar Pirhadi, an activist member of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Vahed Bus Company was arrested on Saturday, February 21, 2009 by the intelligent forces and taken to an unknown location. The reason for his arrests is not clear at this moment.
- Mr. Rahim Beshagh, a member of the board of directors of the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company Workers’ Syndicate, was arrested on February 22, 2009. Mr. Beshagh who had gone to the court in city of Shoush for a private matter, was ordered by the judge to go to the intelligent office for questions regarding the Syndicate and his opposition to the Islamic Labour Council, which is a pro-government/pro-employer association in the workplace to control labour activities. There is no news yet about Mr. Beshagh’s situation as of this time.
- The following Haft Tapeh Workers were scheduled for a trial on Tuesday, February 17, 2009. Only two of these workers were questioned by the presiding judge during this trial (see the interview below). Their trial will resume on Monday, February 23, 2009.
- Ali Nejati, president of the Board of Director of the Syndicate,
- Feridoun Nikoufard, the Vice-President of the Board of Director;
- Mohammad Heydari Mehr, representative on industry affairs;
- Ghorban Alipour, Secretary
- Jalil Ahmadi, member of the Syndicate’s Board of Directors
In addition, many labour activists in Iran are under suspended sentences or await trials and are suspended or expelled from their workplace as the result of their labour activities. Also Mohsen Hakimi, Bijan Amiri, Afshin Shams and Taha Azadi are on bail, await trials or freed conditionally. Just within the last few days in February 2009, four labour activists received outrageous whipping sentences, Ms. Sousan Razani, Ms. Shiva Kheirabadi, Mr. Qaleb Hosseini and Mr. Abdullah Khani, only because of their participation in a May Day event Last year.
Therefore, I condemn all these arrests, persecutions and repression of labour activists and organizations in Iran and demand the immediate and unconditional freedom of all incarcerated workers. I also ask the Iranian government to respect workers’ rights to organize, assemble and strike, put an end to persecution of labour activists and not to interfere in the affairs of independent workers’ organizations.
Name
Organization
Position
Send Copy of your Protest Letters to:
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International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran (IASWI)