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Iran: Attempted assassination of labour activist
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http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=295
Background Information:
On Thursday, October 18, 2007 at 9:00 AM in City of Sanandaj in Iran’s Kurdistan Province, three plain clothes agents who had covered their faces and were riding motorcycles attempted to assassinate Mr. Majid Hamidi a labour activists in Sanandaj. Mr. Hamidi, who is a grocery worker, is a member of the Coordinating Committee to Form Workers’ Organization as well as a member of the Committee in Defence of Mahmoud Salehi. The International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran (IASWI) reports that Mr. Hamidi, 48 years old, has been one of the May Day organizers in Kurdistan province since 2004. Between 1981 to 1988, Mr. Hamidi was arrested twice and spent about 5 years in total in prison because of his labour and social activities. Mr. Hamidi is married and has three children. Various reports, including reports by the above organizations indicate that Mr. Hamidi was shot 7 times mostly in the arm and shoulder as well as his neck. Friends and neighbours immediately took Mr. Hamidi to the Sanandaj’s hospital, but since he had received a bullet in his neck doctors recommended that he should immediately get transferred to Tehran for a specialist surgery. He was transferred to the Amir Alam hospital in Tehran at 2:30 PM the same day. Following surgeries, Mr. Hamidi continues to be in a critical condition.
According to the Committee in Defence of Mahmoud Salehi, Mr. Hamidi himself has said that: “this is the least price workers and labour activists have to pay in Iran to achieve their demands and rights".
It’s also important to report that on October 17, 2007, a plain clothes agent had gone to the residence of Mr. Behzad Sohrabi, a well-known labour activist and the spokesperson for the Committee in Defense of Mahmoud Salehi and a member of the Coordinating Committee to Form Workers’ Organization; fortunately, Mr. Sohrabi was not at home at the time.
This assassination attempt is an extremely alarming sign that needs the immediate attention and response of the Iranian and the worldwide labour movements. We cannot allow these kinds of assassination attempts to continue. Iranian labour activists are already facing some of the harshest conditions in the world. They are sacked from workplaces, persecuted, kidnapped, jailed, exiled and beaten frequently. Labour leaders, like Mansour Osanloo, Mahmoud Salehi and Ebrahim Madadi continue to be incarcerated and are being deprived of urgent and necessary medical treatments while their health is at great risk. Despite all this, workers in Iran persist in demanding their most basic rights such as the freedom of association and the right to organize and the immediate release of all jailed labour activists and an end to all harassment and persecutions of workers in Iran.
The assassination attempts on the life of Iranian labour activists must be condemned internationally by workers of the world and their organizations in any possible ways we can. These kinds of attacks against labour activists in Iran, particularly with a gun, can only be carried out by the government forces and undercover agents and with their arrangement and consent. Their main goal is to terrorize and crush the rising progressive labour movement in the country. Since Iran is a member of the International Labour organization (ILO), the ILO is obligated to send a strong message to the Iranian government to stop this gross violation of workers’ rights and persecution of labour activists.
A longer Sample Letter:
I am writing this letter to express my outrage over the asssination attempts on the life of Mr. Majid Hamidi, an Iranian labour activists in the city of Sanadaj in Kurdistan Province of Iran.
On Thursday, October 18, 2007 at 9:00 AM, local time, in City of Sanandaj, three plain clothes agents who had covered their faces and were riding motorcycles, attempted to assassinate Mr. Majid Hamidi. Mr. Hamidi, who is a grocery worker, and a member of the Coordinating Committee to Form Workers’ Organization as well as the Committee in Defense of Mahmoud Salehi, was shot 7 times mostly in the arm and shoulder as well as his neck. Friends and neighbours immediately took Mr. Hamidi to the Sanandaj’s hospital, but since he received a bullet in his neck doctors recommended that he should immediately get transferred to Tehran for a specialist surgery. He was transferred to the Amir Alam hospital in Tehran the same day. Following surgery, Mr. Hamidi continues to be in a critical condition. These kinds of attacks against labour activists in Iran, particularly with guns, can only be carried out by the government forces and undercover agents and with their arrangement and consent.
I am also seriousely concerned regaridng the health and well-being of Mahmoud Salehi, a founding member and the former president of the Bakery Workers’ Association of the city of Saqez, who has been in Sanadaj’s central prison since April 9, 2007, while being critically ill with kidney and heart problems, as well as the continued detenton of Mr. Mansour Osanloo, the President of the Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Vahed Bus Company, since July 10, 2007, who also suffers from health problems, and Mr. Ebrahim Madadi, the Vahed Syndicate Vice-President, since August 9, 2007. Furthermore, thousands of workers of the state-owned Haft Tapeh sugar cane company in city of Shoush in the Khuzestan province who went on strike in late September and early October 2007 have been facing severe repressions by security forces. Workers and their representatives have been enduring numerous arrests and kidnappings, intimidation and violent attacks. The judicial authorities have also condemned thirteen member and activists of the Union of Dismissed and Unemployed Workers who had participated in the May Day 2007 rally in the city of Sanandaj with prison and whipping sentences.
The Iranian government, that happens to be a member of the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO), refuses to recognize Freedom of Association and the right to organize and has systematically repressed all independent activities of workers. I am therefore calling on the ILO and the ILO Workers’ Group in particular to increase pressures on the Iranian government to stop the persecutions, arrests, threats, violence and other repressive measures against workers and labour activists. Mahmoud Salehi, Mansour Osanloo and Ebrahim Madadi must be freed immediately and unconditionally. I also call for an impartial, transparent and full public investigation into the assassination attempt on Mr. Majid Hamidi to determine who are responsible and ultimately accountable for this crime. Justice for Mr. Hamidi must be realized. The Iranian government is responsible for the safety and security of all workers and labour activists in Iran and must ensure that such violent incidents against workers would cease in Iran once and for all and all affected workers are appropriately and fairly compensated. Finally, I support workers’ struggles in Iran and their demands to organize free and independent labour organizations and the freedom of association.
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ACT NOW!
Iran: Attempted assassination of labour activist
Click Here:
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=295
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