Two labour activists on trial
Harassment and prosecution of labour activists in different cities in recent weeks
On June 9, 2009 two other labour activists were put on trial at the Islamic revolution court of Tehran. Mr. Alireza Asgari, a labour activist and poet, and Mr. Hossein Gholami, labour activist, have been summoned to court numerous times for the past two years. They were arrested along with Mohsen Hakimi, a member of the Coordinating Committee to Form Workers’ Organization, and Ebrahimi Gohari, a member of The Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Vahed Bus Company, in December 2007 in Tehran and were charged with “conspiring to act against national security”. Alireza Asgari and Hossein Gholami defended themselves in the court without the presence of any lawyers. No verdict has been given on these cases yet.
On Friday, December 14, 2007, these four labour activists who had gathered in Chitgar Park in Tehran for a social gathering were arrested by security forces. First, Mr. Ebrahim Gohari, a member of the executive board of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Vahed Bus Company, was arrested and transferred to the police station of Chitgar Park. After that, three of his friends, Mr. Mohsen Hakimi, a member of the Coordinating Committee to Form Workers' Organization, as well as two independent labour activists named Alireza Asghari and Hossein Gholami went to the police station to enquire about Mr. Gohari but all three of them got arrested and detained as well. Since then they have appeared before the court numerous times.
Harassment and prosecution of labour activists in different cities in recent weeks
According to the Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers’ Organizations many labour activists have been arrested or summoned to the Intelligence ministry or the court in different cities in recent weeks. They include:
- Mr. Hadi Tanoumand, who is a well-known labour activist and one of the workers who had been arrested along with Mahmoud Salehi on May Day 2004, have been summoned three times in recent weeks by the office of the Intelligence ministry in city of Bukan.
- Mr. Hassan Rasoul-Nejad another labour activists in Bukan, was interrogated on June 8, 2008 by the intelligence agency of Bukan.
- Mr. Shahpour Hossein-Panahi has been charged with participating in Sanandaj’s May Day event this year. He was arrested and detained for one night on June 1st and was taken to the court the day after and later released on bail.
- Mr. Maziar Mehr-pour, member of the Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers’ Organizations, has been summoned by the intelligence agency in city of Rasht on jUne 1, 2009.
- Mr. Yousef Abkharabad, member of the Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers’ Organizations, was interrogated for two hours on May 30, 2009 by the intelligence agency of the city of Mahabad.
- Mr. Kourosh Bakhshandeh, another member of the Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers’ Organizations, was interrogated from 9 AM to 4 PM on May 24, 2009 at the Intelligence office in Sanandaj.
There have been more news of intimidation and harassment of labour activists in the past few weeks.
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International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran (IASWI)