Press Release
An International Day of Action on Iran!
Protest at Iranian Embassy in Ottawa for release of jailed labour leaders
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Released on August 8, 2007- There will be a demonstration in front of Iranian embassy in Ottawa at 12:30 PM on August 9, 2007. Labour organizations and activists around the world are standing in solidarity with workers in Iran, particularly for the freedom of Mansour Osanloo and Mahmoud Salehi and for the immediate stop of the persecution of labour and progressive activists in Iran. Mahmoud Salehi, former president of the Saqez Bakery Workers’ Association and a co-founder of the Coordinating Committee to Form Workers’ Organisation, has been imprisoned since April 9, 2007. He faces a critical health condition because he only has one kidney, which functions at less than 20 percent of capacity, but the legal and prison authorities refuse to allow him the required treatments. Mansour Osanloo, the president of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company, was kidnapped by plain clothes agents on July 10, 2007. He was severely beaten and later transferred to the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran. He has been denied family, legal and medical visits.
We have witnessed a new wave of repression in Iran against labour activists as well as students and women’s rights activists. Many students and women activists have been persecuted and imprisoned in recent months. Just a couple of days ago, a court in Iran's Kurdistan Province sentenced 11 workers each to three months in prison and 10 lashes, just for attending a May Day rally in Sanandaj on May 1, 2007. Many Members of the bus workers’ syndicate in Tehran have been suspended and persecuted as well. The Iranian government does not recognize freedom of association and the right to organize and thus systematically represses all independent activities of workers and progressive forces in the country.
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) have called for a day of action on August 9, 2007 in solidarity with workers in Iran and in protest over the imprisonment of Osanloo and Salehi. This day of action has been supported by numerous trade unions and global labour federations around the world as well as independent labour and progressive organizations in Iran and abroad. There will be similar demonstrations, with speakers and solidarity messages, in many countries across the world.
Where: The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran - 245 Metcalfe St., Ottawa
Time: 12:30 to 2:00 p.m.
Date: Thursday, August 9, 2007
For more information, please contact:
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 416-835-8296 or 416-997-2945 or 416-388-4595
Committee in Support of Workers in Iran- Toronto
International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran- Canada