Condemn Unjust Sentences against Saqez Labour Activists!

November 12, 2006: According to the latest news from the City of Saqez yesterday, Mahmoud Salehi, the former President of the Bakery Workers’ Association of the City of Saqez and a co-founder of the Coordinating Committee to Form Worker’s Organisation, has been sentenced to 4 years imprisonment. Jalal Hosseini, a fired Bakery Worker and one of the founders of the Bakery Workers’ Association of the City of Saqez and an executive board member of the Coordinating Committee to Form Worker’s Organisation in the Western Iran, was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment.  Borhan Divargar, another labour activists arrested on May Day 2004, has already been sentenced to two years in jail whereas Hadi Tanomand, Esmail Khodkam and Mohammad Abdipour, three of the Saqez Seven, have already been acquitted. Mr. Mohsen Hakimi, also arrested on May Day 2004 in Saqez, expects the verdict being announced shortly.

Mahmoud Salehi and Jalal Hosseini faced their last of many trials on October 16th and 18^th, 2006 respectively at the Branch One of the Saqez’ Revolution Court behind the closed doors. As we explained in our previous statement, these labour activists were charged with “attempting to hold an illegal gathering for the purpose of committing crime”, which in fact meant attempting to celebrate May Day, the International Workers’ Day. In addition to all this, Salehi and his wife, Najibeh Salehzadeh, during the same period, were being frequently harassed by security and intelligent forces, and they even were bogusly charged with offending a security officer. As a result, the Branch 102 of the Saqez Criminal Court has recently sentenced Salehi and Salehzadeh each to pay one million Rial (100,000 Toman) to the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which they intend to appeal. 

In March 2005, Mahmoud Salehi was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and 3 years in exile in the city of Ghorveh, and Jalal Hosseini was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment. A couple days later, the Saqez Revolutionary Court sentenced Mohsen Hakimi, Borhan Divargar and Mohammad Abdipour to two years imprisonment. Hence five out of the seven initially charged for “organizing an illegal gathering” had been sentenced. These sentences were appealed by their lawyers and subsequently overturned by the Kurdistan Province Court of Appeal, Division 7 in May 2006. However, the Saqez Revolutionary Court decided to press new charges against them, “attempting to hold an illegal gathering for the purpose of committing crime”. Their lawyer will undoubtedly once again appeal these harsh and unjust sentences.

The government’s dominant trend in recent years has been evolving around this tactic of jailing labour activists, releasing them on hefty bail and persecuting and harassing them continually and simultaneously sacking them from the workplace. This way the authorities expect cutting off all ties between labour activists and the rank and file workers. Tehran’s Vahed workers have already been targets of such anti-worker practices in large numbers. The employers and judiciary system as well as security forces and other levels of government have been working in collaboration with each other in implementation of such repressive measures.

It is absolutely critical to publicly state our strong denunciation of these unjust sentences (Please See below).

Sample Letter in Condemnation of Sentences against the Saqez Labour Leaders

Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadjinejad,

President of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Email: [email protected]
Fax: + 98 21 649 58 80

I am writing this letter to express my condemnation concerning harsh and unjust sentences against the Saqez labour activists. According to the latest news, Mahmoud Salehi, the former President of the Bakery Workers’ Association of the city of Saqez and a co-founder of the Coordinating Committee to Form Worker’s Organisation, has been sentenced to 4 years imprisonment. Jalal Hosseini, a labour activist in the city of Saqez and an executive board member of the Coordinating Committee to Form Worker’s Organisation in the Western Iran, was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment. Borhan Divargar, another labour activists arrested on May Day 2004, was earlier sentenced to two years in prison.

It is very clear that Salehi, Hosseini and Divargar have been sentenced for their labour activities, particularly given the fact that the initial arrests and the final charges were made in connection with their attempts to participate in May Day 2004 celebration in Saqez. I am outraged at these sentences which show that your government has disregarded the fundamental human and workers’ rights, such as freedom of association and the right to celebrate the Labour Day.

I strongly urge you to take immediate measures to ensure that all charges and sentences against the above labour activists, as well as Mr. Mohsen Hakimi who awaits the verdict, are unconditionally dropped without any further repercussions.

Print Name

CC: Ambassador Mohammad Reza Alborzi, Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations Institutions in Geneva, Chemin du Petit-Saconnex 28, 1209 Geneva, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 733 02 03, E-mail: [email protected]

CC: [email protected]

For more information, contact [email protected] or [email protected].

International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran

Background Information: www.workers-iran.org