Updates on Salehi, Osanloo and Activists of Vahed Syndicate

February 15, 2008- Mahmoud Saelhi’s wife, Najibeh Salehzadeh, and his lawyer, Mr. Mohammad Sharif, visited Salehi in prison on February 7, 2008.

Mr. Sharif spoke with Mr.Amjadi, the city of Sanandaj’s prosecutor. After some arguments and disagreements, including their efforts to refuse Mr. Sharif as Mahmoud’s legal representative, the prosecutor finally agreed to allow Mr. Sharif and Najibeh to visit Salehi. After visiting Salehi, Sharif warned that Mahmoud’s health has been greatly deteriorating. He reports that Mahmoud is at great risk. Mr. Sharif requested that the prosecutor to allow Salehi to be freed by the New Year eve (March 20^th).  All reports by doctors at the Tohid hospital indicated that Salehi’s deteriorating health requires proper treatment outside prison and that Salehi must not stay in prison; however, the government’s medical examiner, Dr. Babayee, has rejected all of these reports.

Mr. Sharif, has reported that the judiciary authorities are very angry with the fact that Mahmud’s situation has been widely publicized around the world and that the permanent representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the UN has been warned about Mahmoud’s situation. Mr. Sharif also added that official and semi-official media in Iran have been silent about Mahmoud’s situation. ISNA (an official Iranian Students’ News Agency), for instance, refused to publish his interview.

Updates on the 26 Sacked members of the Vahed Syndicate

According to various sources from Iran, the 26 suspended activists of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Vahed Bus Company has been facing severe financial hardships and at times they are not able to feed their own children. Mr. Yaghoub Salimi, a member of the board of directors of the syndicate has indicated that authorities have been trying to force these workers to go in exile outside Tehran. These workers are not even allowed to work on private buses in Tehran. All of these workers have cases with the court as well as the Ministry of Labour. They have been appealing their suspension and dismissal but their cases have not been considered. They had even spoken with Ahmadinejad, on a public occasion, but nothing has been done to help them reinstate their jobs. They are not receiving any pay, benefits or compensation whatsoever.

Mr. Ebrahim Madadi, the vice president of the syndicate, has been summoned to court for old charges and he may face new sentences.  According to the Syndicate, Mr. Parviz Khorshid, the Syndicate’s Attorney who defends Ebrahim Madadi as well, said, “Despite of the fact that Ebrahim Madadi’s order, regarding the case was filed in 2005, has not been sent to us, my client has received a letter to be appeared at the Sentence Enforcement Office. 

According to the Syndicate, Mansour Osanloo, the Vahed Syndicate’s president of the board of directors, was visited by his attorney at the hospital. Paviz Khorshid, by giving this news to the legal reporter of the ISNA, said, “After my client was transferred to the hospital for the eye surgery, I visited him yesterday at the hospital.” He added, “Mansour Osanloo was transferred from the Evin Prison to the hospital last Thursday and had a heavy operation on his eye.  According to the doctors’ recommendations, he should be under the medical control for five weeks, but his vocation has been extended until the next Saturday.”  According to other sources, Osanloo’s family and some of his colleagues from the Syndicate, were able to visit him in the hospital. Mansour Osanloo’s attorney recalled, “We, I along with his family, submitted the request of extending his vocation to prevent any negative consequences of the surgery.” However, despite all these efforts, Mansour Osanloo was transferred from the Hospital to the prison on Saturday evening, February 2, 2008.